The Silver Shadow
by ericwinter
Summary: We all know the story. Ten thousand souls, trapped in a death game. The black swordsman, once reviled and hated, rises up as a hero to save them all. But what they didn't tell you is that he wasn't alone. After all, even a legend still has a shadow. His is just livelier than most. T for cursing. Disclaimer: I own nothing except this story and my OC's.
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to SAO

**Hello, and welcome to my SAO story. I don't have much to say here, so I'll try to make it brief.**

 **First off, this will not be a OC/Kirito fic, so get that thought out of your heads right now. While I don't necessarily care much for canon pairings as a rule, I actually really like Asuna and Kirito, and both of them deserve to have that ending. My OC, who's name will be revealed in the next chapter, will be more like a big sister to Kirito, not a lover. And yes, I very purposefully kept the name of the main character out of this chapter, to provide an air of mystery, since it fits really well with her character. I hope you like it.**

 **So, that should be it for the most part. Read, Review, and Relax. Enjoy!**

XXX

As a gray haired girl stepped out of the light that had engulfed her a few seconds earlier, she casually glanced around at her surroundings. She was no longer out in the fields surrounding the Town of Beginnings, where she had been hunting mobs all day, but was instead back in the town's plaza, where players would first spawn. Even as she looked around, she could see more and more of her fellow gamers stepping out of their own teleportation lights, confused looks on almost all of their features. The girl, for her part, simply stepped back and leaned inconspicuously against one of the pillars surrounding the plaza. The place started filling up fast, and the girl was suddenly filled with a sense of uneasiness as she realized that nearly all of the ten thousand players of SAO were being gathered against their will. Even if it had been for some opening announcement, something wasn't right. They should've gotten a message or something, with the option to go. That was how things had been done during the beta, at least.

The girl pushed those thoughts aside, however, when she heard cries of surprise and looked up from scanning the crowd to see the sky darkening. As she watched with narrowed eyes, dozens of red warning panels appeared and a thick red substance that looked remarkably like blood started to drip from between the liquid started coalescing and formed into a giant red cloaked figure, she cocked her head in curiosity. _Well, that was certainly an impressive entrance._

"Greetings, players, and welcome, to SAO!" The figure swept out his arms, and there was an uproarious cheer from the crowd below. "I am Akihiko Kayaba, creator and game master of SAO, and right now, I am the only person who can control this game." Instantly, the entire crowd fell dead silent. The sentence itself was innocent enough, if a bit narcissistic, but the way the man had said it… there was a weight to those words, and everyone could hear it. "Now, many of you have likely realized that there is no logout button in your menu. This is not a malfunction." As she listened, the gray haired girl frowned. She _had_ noticed the missing logout button, when she tried to leave the game right before being transported to the plaza, but saying it wasn't a malfunction… This was starting to sound really wrong.

"I repeat, this is not a malfunction. SAO was designed this way. As of this moment, you will not be able to log out of Sword Art Online, and no one on the outside will be able to remove or shut down the nervegear on your head. If anyone attempts to do so, the nervegear will send a microwave signal to your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life." The girl's eyes drifted towards the shadow the GM wore as a face. All around her, everyone started muttering about how it must be a joke, or impossible, but she knew better. The nervegear was built just like a microwave. The signal could easily be rewritten to destroy a brain, and even if someone were to cut the power, it had an internal battery. "Regrettably, the families of several players have already attempted to remove the Nervegear from their heads. As a result, the game now has two hundred and thirteen less players than it did originally. They've been deleted from both Aincrad _and_ the real world." Instantly, the girl froze, and a burning sensation started to build from somewhere deep inside her. She could hear the truth in the GM's tone, hear his regret… but not at the loss of lives. No, he regretted that he no longer had those two hundred and thirteen souls to participate in whatever his fucked up plan was.

"As you can see, international media outlets have round the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths." Several panels of newsfeeds from various sources appeared in the air around the GM. "At this point, it safe to assume the likelihood of a nervegear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game." The grey haired girl couldn't believe she was hearing this. _That_ was meant to bring them comfort? "It's important you remember the following. There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever, and the nervegear will simultaneously destroy your brain. There's only one way for a player to escape now. You must clear the game. Right now, you're gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor one hundred, and you will clear the game. Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please, have a look." The girl didn't want to, would rather anything other than doing something this despicable man asked of her, but she didn't want to know what a madman like Kayaba appeared to be would do if someone refused his 'gift'. Without taking her eyes off the blood red hood, she pulled up her menu and selected the first item in it. She glanced at it, for just a moment, but before she could draw her eyes away, the girl was suddenly engulfed in a bright white light. When it finally disappeared, a different face was staring out at her. Her features had rearranged themselves, but their new shape was familiar to her. Her hair, previously long and straight, retained its original color of charcoal grey, but was now short, hanging in a choppy, pixie-like fashion just below her jawline. Quicksilver eyes, previously dulled to a common grey, flashed from underneath long bangs. Her high cheekbones and wide eyes were reminiscent of European nobility and gave her an exotic, dangerous look. Her actual body had shifted from its previous form of a small, mousy, and borderline scrawny high school girl to a similarly aged athletic one, lined with hard muscles and possessing curves that most girls her age would kill for. All in all, the new changes made her look like some sort of exotic cheerleader, even with her somewhat ragged beginner clothes, and it seriously pissed her the _fuck_ off. The girl didn't mind the face so much, it was hers after all, but she had very purposefully abandoned this body when coming to SAO. Far too many people had assumed what sort of person she was based purely off of her looks, and it was tiring enough to kick assholes up and down the street for it IRL. She didn't need to deal with that in game as well.

"Most of you are probably wondering, why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, creator of Sword Art Online, and nervegear, do this? Ultimately my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online, was to control the fate of a world of my design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." The figure, that hateful robed being hanging in the sky, slowly start to dissipate, dissolving back into the red liquid and disappearing into the sky. For a moment, Every last player just stared horrified at the spot Kayaba had just vacated. Then, with one girl's sudden scream, chaos erupted. Players started shouting and running about like chickens with their heads cut off, or just staring into space emptily, a traumatized look in their eyes. The girl with the quicksilver eyes just ignored them, however, in favor of continuing to stare at the spot Kayaba had last floated in, allowing everything he said to wash over her. Two hundred and thirteen... two hundred and thirteen souls lost to this man's sick dream, and more likely on the way.

"So that's how you want to play this Kayaba?" She whispered under her breath, so low she almost didn't hear herself. "Fine, I'll play. But don't go crying to mommy when I drag your ass out of whatever hole you're hiding in and make you pay in kind for every drop of blood spilled, every innocent life taken by this monstrous game of yours. I'm coming for you Kayaba, remember that." Finally, she let her eyes sweep the crowd, one last time. Most of the other people were still around, panicking, but a few caught her eye. A black haired boy who looked like he was around her age, dragging a ginger man behind him with a determined look on his face. Another man, big, bald, and dark-skinned, frowning up at the sky. A small, mousy form disappearing silently into the crowd, pulling the hood of a light brown cloak over her head as she went. All these and more the girl saw, before silently turning her back on the almost ten thousand players still remaining in the plaza, and walking away.


	2. Chapter 2: Beaters

**Hello, and welcome back to The Silver Shadow! So, first things first, sorry about this taking a while to pop out, but as you can see, it was a very long chapter, and it had to be suitably epic if it were to stand up to the standards of the actual show. Add onto that the fact that I just recently pulled myself out of a writer's block slump, and it was bound to take a bit.**

 **Anyways, so the first thing I wanted to warn you guys about was that this story, and this chapter in particular, will be following and quoting the TV show quite heavily. I will try to limit that, but there are just certain things that were not only done incredibly well, but were also extremely important to character development, so I can't leave them out.**

 **Beyond that, i also need to state, and this is very important, that this is NOT an OC/Kirito fic. He and Bella will not be getting together, and Kirito will be marrying Asuna just as he did in canon. Bella will be a big sister figure to Kirito, and all the other characters except a few, and that is IT. Now granted, she wil be paired with someone, it just won't be Kirito. I'll leave you all to stew on who it might be, but I'm not breaking up the one canon couple, especially since they really are good for each other. So screw you if you object, and that's that.**

 **Alright, I'm fairly certain that's all that is really need right now, other than to say that this is pretty much just episode two of the anime, and to have fun reading. REed, Relax, and Review. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, and all rights belong to them. Dialogue is taken directly from the show, and I only employ it in a non profit manner for creative use. Basically, I quote the show a lot, and I am making no money off of this, so you can't sue me. Well, i hope you can't, anyways. Please don't.**

XXX

Kirito was in trouble. All around him, people were gathering, forming parties for the big boss raid that they had just finished a meeting to discuss. The problem was, he didn't know anybody. Glancing around, the black haired boy searched desperately for somebody, anybody who seemed even remotely friendly that wasn't already talking with someone else. FInally, his eyes alighted on his salvation, in the form of two hooded people sitting off to the side, one in red and the other in gray. They were separate, far enough apart that Kirito doubted they were together. Mustering his courage, Kirito quickly scooted over, trying to seem as unthreatening as he could while doing so.

"You guys got left out too, huh?" He asked. The one in gray nodded, a short, definitive motion, but the other spoke up.

"Not even. I wasn't left out. It's just, everyone seems like they're already friends." Her voice was soft and quiet, distinctly feminine. Kirito opened his mouth to continue, but was suddenly cut off by another voice.

"Well, except for us of course.." Kirito saw the other hood shifting slightly, hinting at the owner the new voice. This one, too, was feminine, but deeper and far more amused. The raven haired teen could almost hear the laughter in it.

"So you two are solo as well, huh? ...Want to form a party?" The red hood tilted towards him, a question practically vibrating in the air between them, but the girl in grey leaned back, and for some reason Kirito got the distinct impression that underneath the hood, she was watching him very closely. "You heard what the guy just said, right? We can't beat the boss on our own, and it would just be for this fight." After a second, the girl in red nodded, and Kirito turned questioning eyes towards the other. She didn't move for a while, and just as Kirito was starting to worry she would say no, he got his answer in the form of a party invite. The raven haired teen quickly accepted it and glanced up at the top left of his vision. There, a name appeared under his, and then another just a second after. The first, belonging to the grey hooded girl, was strange, foreign. BellaLux, it read, and a shiver ran down Kirito's spine just reading it. He had no idea what it meant, but he could feel something almost… powerful, in the words. Not to mention, it sounded somewhat familiar. Turning his gaze away from the strange handle, Kirito looked instead to the one under it. This one was at least japanese in nature, Asuna. He gave the girl it belonged to a short nod, before narrowing his eyes at the other. Asuna's hood at least allowed him to see a bit of her face, even if just her mouth and the tip of a nose. Bella's, as he assumed the handle was meant to be split in two, was slightly larger, draped over her head almost like a blanket to block her features completely. The sight almost reminded Kirito of Kayaba and his appearance at the speech where the evil bastard had struck fear into the hearts of ten thousand players and their families.

"Alright everybody! It seems like you're all in your parties now, so let's continue-" The blue haired man who had been directing the meeting started to call everyone to attention, but was interrupted when a guy with orange hair suddenly jumped down onto the stage. Kirito watched as the man started going on a rant about the ex-beta testers, and started to feel a little bit uneasy. He was a beta tester himself, and the man, Kibau, wasn't necessarily lying with his accusations. Kirito _did_ leave town as soon as he could at the start, even leaving his new friend Klein behind. That choice would haunt him for the rest of his days, and it pained him to hear that his actions may have caused the deaths of some of the lost players.

Eventually, Kibau was interrupted by another, large dark-skinned man, calling himself Agil. At the sound of the name, Kirito caught shifting from behind him, and glanced back to see that the grey hooded girl had leaned forward slightly, her head tilted to the side. It looked almost like she recognized the man, or thought him interesting at the very least. Filing it away for later, Kirito turned back to the conversation, breathing a sigh of relief when Agil pointed out that the ex-beta testers _had_ helped with handing out guidebooks. Heck, even Kirito had offered up some of that information, though he was far too busy to actually hand the things out at the time. As the meeting drew to a close, Kirito smiled at the way everyone started mingling. Good, they would have to work together if anyone was ever going to get out of this death game. He turned slightly, hoping to talk to the two girls who were now his party, but neither of them were in their spots. Asuna, he saw walking away, but he caught no sight of the odd Bella. She had disappeared without any trace, like mist on a wind. The only sign that she had existed at all was the odd name, still sitting under his life bar.

XXX

As the rest of the raid group partied, Kirito wandered the streets, looking for his party. When he finally found one of them, Asuna, he smiled a little. She was eating one of the small bread rolls he had been eating for the last few days.

"Those are pretty good, aren't they?" Asuna glanced up at the sound of his voice, her body stiffening. She glanced backwards warily, and the small smile disappeared. "Mind if I sit down?" She didn't respond, just turning back to her meal silently. Kirito took that for a yes and sat. Almost instantly, the hooded girl scooted over, putting several feet of space in between them. Kirito tried to ignore it, pulling out a bun of his own. He had just taken his first bite when the girl spoke up.

"You really think these taste good?"

"Uh huh." Kirito nodded, swallowing quickly. "Since I came to this town, I end up eating at least one a day. Course, I got a trick to make it taste better." Kirito had to suppress a smile at the way she perked up. The bread was decent enough, but after a while it could get pretty dull. Reaching back into his back pocket, he pulled out a small vial. He set it between them, and Asuna tilted her head at it as he tapped the top, a glowing blue orb of light appearing on his finger. She watched as he ran the light over his meal, a thick line of cream appearing in its wake. Kirito took a big bite out of it, savoring the taste as he watched the girl reach out hesitantly. Carefully, the girl copied his actions, seeming shocked when the cream appeared.

"Cream?" Kirito nodded, and Asuna stared at her food for a few seconds. Then, slowly, she took a bite. For a moment, they were still. Then Asuna suddenly started scarfing the bread down, devouring it within a few bites. She sighed contentedly, and Kirito's smile returned.

"I got it from the quest 'the heifer strikes back. You want to know how I did it?" Surprisingly, the girl shook her head.

"I appreciate the offer, but… I didn't come to this town to eat good food." Kirito stared, confused.

"Okay, why are you here?"

"So I don't lose sight of who I am." Kirito froze, unsure of what to say next as she took a deep breath. "I don't want to lock myself in a room in the town of beginnings and slowly rot away. I'd rather stay the way I am, till the last moment. Even if a monster beats me and I die, I won't lose. To this game, or this world no matter what."

"Good. The moment you give up is the moment Kayaba wins, and that monster doesn't deserve the satisfaction." Kirito jumped at the sound of the new voice, appearing right behind him. Whirling, the teen reached for his sword, an instinct driven into him over the last two months. But it wasn't a monster behind them, or even a PKer. Crouching just a step or two behind his previous seat was instead BellaLux, the missing third member of their party. Her hood was still up, as was Asuna's, but something in her body language told Kirito that she was completely serious. Her previous humor was gone, replaced by a demeanor that made it seemed like she was carved from ice and shadows..

Oh. There you are. Where were you?" At his question, the tension broke, and the grey hood turned to him curiously.

"I was in the tree. Did you not notice?" Kirito paused, before his eyes refocused on the space directly behind Bella. There was indeed a tree, a large oak with a branch big enough to sit on extending out over where Kirito had been sitting and where Asuna still was. Kirito tried to fight a sudden blush that started rushing up his cheeks, but it didn't help that Bella seemed to be smirking at him, and even Asuna was smiling a little. "Anyways, you're exactly right Asuna. That spirit, that will to fight, that's all that we have left. We can't run, Kayaba made sure of that, and hiding won't help anyone. So we must fight. Even to our last breath." Calming down, Kirito couldn't help but widen his eyes at the girl's speech. She seemed so, passionate wasn't quite the right word. It was more like she simply accepted the thought that there was nothing left to do but fight as she sounded completely ready to do whatever it took to get do so, even if that meant ripping Kayaba's throat out herself. It made Kirito feel like he needed to say _something._

"Yes, well, I wouldn't want a party member dying. So try not to get yourselves killed tomorrow, alright?" He said lamely. The moment the words left his mouth, he knew they were pitiful in comparison to the fire that burned with the words of his two companions. But they didn't seem to care. Asuna suddenly burst into giggles, quickly reduced to holding her side for air as she tried to restrain her laughing, and Even Bella's hood shifted back slightly, just enough for him to make out the hints of a smile lurking on bright red lips. It made him think that perhaps, just perhaps, the next day's battle might turn out alright after all, if these people could still smile and laugh despite their surroundings.

XXX

Kirito stumbled over a rock, only avoiding crashing face-first into the dirt thanks to Bella's quick catch. Nodding his thanks, the raven haired boy turned back to Asuna, the one who had shocked him so. "You've never been in a party before?" The swordsman was incredulous. How did she manage to survive this long without either the knowledge that came with being a beta tester, or a party to support her? She also must not even be a gamer at all, if she didn't know what a switch was. It was less common, but the term was still applicable to pre virtual reality games.

"To be fair, neither have I." This time, even the quick reflexes of Bella were unable to save Kirito from at least scraping his hands on the ground as he attempted to catch himself. Why did they have to be having this conversation in a forest?

"Do _you_ at least know what switching is?" The girl nodded, and Kirito was able to breathe a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't stuck with two total noobs. It would be difficult enough to explain everything necessary to one person. So, Kirito began the long and arduous task of explaining switching and various other party mechanics to Asuna, with Bella piping in every once in awhile In the meantime, Kirito started to observe his temporary companions a little more than he already had.

Asuna was a simple matter. She was around his age, give or take a year or two, and an obvious noob. He could see it in the way she walked and talked, despite that rather inspiring speech the night before. A young girl, caught out of her depth and trying to make sense of the world around her. At least she moved with some measure of confidence, as if she was no stranger to battle. That was to be expected. A will like hers had to be forged through trials of fire, and surviving hardships.

Bella, on the other hand, was completely different. She walked with a confidence and grace the swordsman was almost jealous of. Her movements were assured, and her speech even. If he didn't know better, he would say being trapped in a game with death all around wasn't anything new to the girl. Then there was her humor of course. The girl, despite the heavy hood she wore to obscure her face even at close range, always seemed amused by something. Kirito couldn't make any sense of it, because even though she could laugh, and even smile as he had seen the previous night, there also seemed to be a sort of tension around her, an energy that put Kirito on was like Bella scrutinized every little thing he said or did, and judged it on some scale he couldn't possibly understand. He knew it was ridiculous, but just couldn't shake the feeling.

Kirito shook those thoughts aside as they came to the door of the dungeon boss. It was a big stone thing, set into the base of an imposing mountain. There were carvings on the door, images of death and destruction that set Kirito's teeth on edge. This fight was not going to be simple in the slightest.

"Alright people, I have only one thing to say to you. Let's win!" Diavel the blue haired man who had jokingly declared himself a knight at the meeting, called. As the assembled crowd cheered, he turned, pushing the door wide open, leading the charge inside.

The interior of the room was exactly what Kirito had expected. A long hall built of dark grey stone, with the the throne at the end covered in shadows, and the only light being that which spilled in from outside. The entire party, a good forty of the strongest players currently in SAO, spread out quickly, wary of any enemy forces, but none appeared. For several seconds they all waited, eyes darting around, muscles tense. Then, at the far end, two red eyes suddenly blinked into existence, and the whole hall filled with a bright rainbow light to reveal a giant humanoid ratlike creature, with the title of 'Illfang the Kobold Lord' appearing above it alongside four glowing green health bars. As an ear-shattering roar burst forth from the creature it jumped from the throne into the middle of the hall, several of its minions appearing beside it. Most of the players hesitated, a pulse of fear running through them at the sight of the beast, but the same could not be said for three of their number. Kirito charged forward, Bella and Asuna at his shoulders, to meet the blade of the foremost ruin kobold sentry with his own as it attacked one of the frozen players. The force of his blade knocked the other aside, and he jumped backward, calling out in a clear voice.

"Switch!" He felt the air blow past him, and a slightly maniacal grin broke out on his face at the sight of the two girls flying past. Asuna, going high, struck out with a thin, light sword that Kirito recognized as a rapier, and the black-haired boy couldn't help but marvel at how she struck so fast he couldn't even see the tip of her sword. Bella, however, was even more unbelievable. The girl went low, a mere shadow against the gray stone as she slid along the ground so fast Kirito wasn't even sure she was there until she appeared behind the kobold, driving twin daggers through its chest. Bella sent Kirito a fierce grin just as the monster dissolved into shards of blue light, her hood having shifted back just enough for him to see it.

As Kirito moved to block the next kobold, the rest of the party went with him, having overcome their shock and now moving forward in a human tide, determined to take the first step in earning their freedom. The fight quickly descended into chaos, and Kirito, Asuna, and Bella were swept away in the flow.

As they fought, Kirito took the chance to watch his companions more, hoping to glean something from their movements and styles. Asuna was strong, striking far faster than Kirito would've expected a noob to be able to achieve in such little time. Her sword easily became a rain of steel as she would dart past Kirito to take advantage of the openings he created for her.

Bella was both a contrast and a parallel to the other hooded girl. Where Asuna would have a grim look on what little he could see of her face, every twitch and step spelling sheer and utter determination, Bella was wild, her grin as plain to see as possible with the heavy hood covering her features. Even as Asuna and Kirito quickly developed a pattern with the boy tanking blows and creating openings for the other to strike, Bella was like a ghost, sliding around the battlefield and eliminating foes with an almost preternatural ferocity and grace. The grey-hooded girl practically quivered with excitement as she fought, sliding just outside of her opponents blows only to reverse the momentum on a pin's width and eviscerate the monsters an instant later. Bella did everything she could to watch their backs, her primary focus on any enemies who would jump either Kirito or Asuna, but the lone boy in the group was so distracted watching her that he still almost died from those he was face to face with.

Finally, just as Kirito was starting to run out of breath(something he had very quickly learned _was_ possible, even inside a game.) the boss dropped into the red on his final health bar, letting out a terrifying roar. The great beast threw aside the buckler he had been wielding, pulling out a second weapon that materialized on its back.

"Everyone hold! I've got this!" Kirito could hardly believe his ears as Diavel, the man who had organized this entire thing, called the whole party to stop attacking the boss, sauntering forward with a confident grin on his face. It was only at the last second, as the blue-haired man started to charge up a sword skill, that Kirito realized the weapon the boss was holding wasn't a talwar, as they'd expected, but a nodachi, a far more dangerous weapon with less predictable attack patterns.

"No, stop, it's no good!" He shouted even as another voice rang out.

"Don't, you fool!" Kirito barely had time to register the fact that the voice was Bella's, her usual amusement gone, replaced with anger and horror. Illfang, with yet another murderous howl, jumped, leaping from wall to wall before falling from directly above the woefully unprepared Diavel, landing a slash that nearly bisected the man. No blood fell, but the bright red line of light was telling enough. Kirito didn't hesitate in running to where the other man had been thrown from the blow, cradling his head. Kirito pulled out a health potion, frowning down at the man as he berated him.

"What the hell were you thinking?" The raven haired boy tried to give the other the potion, only for Diavel to stop him.

"You know… you were a beta tester too, weren't you?" Kirito's eyes widened, and Diavel gave him a weak smile, the hand holding back the vial that could save his life shaking. Kirito knew exactly what the other man was talking about.

"You were after the last attack bonus, the rare item. You're just like me. A beta tester." Diavel nodded slightly, taking a pained gulp as he turned his head to look out at the rest of the party, who were struggling to hold off the boss. He didn't even flinch as one of the minions appeared, swinging a sword down to end his life, right before Bella suddenly stopped in between them, ducking under the blade to kick the creature back a few steps. The girl paused for a second, glancing back at them.

"You might want to hurry it up." Then she was gone, a shadow against the ancient grey stones, dealing with the minions viciously to allow the rest of the party to survive the boss's turned back to Kirito, that smile fluttering just the tiniest bit.

"Please, you have to defeat the boss… for everyone here…" His last words were a bare whisper, nearly unheard as his body glowed, then shattered into those damning blue shards. Kirito just sat there for a second, his arms holding air. He had a potion, he could've saved him! If only Kirito had insisted, hadn't stopped to talk, or if he had know about the nodachi… Kirito's hands clenched, and his eyes rose to glare at the boss who was still terrorizing the other players. The players Diavel had gathered, had led, had given hope that maybe, someday, they would all be free of this death game. And now the man had put his last faith in Kirito. It didn't make sense. Ever since SAO had began, all the boy had thought about was himself, about surviving, getting stronger. Diavel had done something Kirito had never been able to do, and now… Now it was his turn to make good on that.

Seeming to sense the sudden determination that burned in his very veins, Asuna and Bella appeared at his shoulder's, their cloaks swaying as they stood behind him.

"I'll go too." Asuna spoke first, her voice soft but determined.

"'Till the end." Bella growled in confirmation, and Kirito could hear the darkness in her voice, feel the fires of hell he had no doubt were burning in her hidden eyes. The force of the hatred and killing intent rolling off the girl was so fierce he nearly froze, but the boy clutched his sword tightly, and nodded.

"Okay. We'll hit him just like we did the minions." he didn't wait for the answering nods before sprinting forward, his focus solely on Illfang, but he didn't need to . They kept up with him just fine, shadowing his every step. They reached the boss just as he finished throwing aside a few other players, and Kirito swung as hard as he could to block the giant sword coming at him. The force of the blow threw him to the side, but it did the same for Illfang, allowing the girls a perfect opening as he called out, "Switch!"

Asuna and Bella ran forward, their forms blurring with their speed. Illfang was faster though, and despite his destroyed balance managed to bring another slice to bear, right in Asuna's path. "Asuna!" Kirito yelled, suddenly afraid for the girl, but he needn't have worried. Bella, who had been running side by side with the other girl, shifted slightly, causing Asuna to stumble right under the giant sword. Their cloaks were caught by the blade, however, and thrown off their bodies before disintegrating. Kirito caught a glimpse of flowing brown, a flash of steel grey, before both activated their sword skills and struck, Asuna from the front and Bella once again sliding around the enormous form of their target to strike from behind.

Kirito, who had landed on his behind, could only stare in amazement at the two women, facing the Kobold who had been thrown back by the heavier force of Asuna's blow, making Bella tear long gashes along the side of the monster with her knives. They were beautiful, there was no doubt about that. Asuna, who Kirito rightly judged to be the tamer and more demure of the too, had flowing light brown hair, and bright eyes the color of bronze glowing with determination. Bella, however, painted a far more regal picture, if wilder and more dangerous. Her hair was steel and shadow, hanging in a savage and primal manner about her face, with deadly sharp eyes of quicksilver flashing in hatred, a dark fire burning in them. The light seemed to flicker about her, a depthless anger casting her features in darkness for the second she had paused.

Kirito would have liked to stay like that, studying every inch of the faces he had wondered about the last twenty four hours, but his attention was drawn away by a furious howl. Kirito's body moved before he had even given it instruction, swinging his sword to once again block the returning enemy. This time he was better prepared, and managed to keep his feet as Bella and Asuna slid past him, bronze and silver a stark contrast as they moved side by side. Watching them, somehow, as they passed him again and again, Kirito had the strangest feeling that this was good, this was _right_. In that moment he believed that whatever happened, these two girls were very important.

But Kirito couldn't focus on that, the thought slipping away as Illfang suddenly pulled a reversal again and a deep gash appeared on his chest, the force of the blow throwing him backwards into Asuna. They slid across the ground, and Kirito's health bar had dropped to below half before they finally came to a stop, Bella nowhere to be seen. Before Kirito could consider where she had gone, there was a loud ringing sound, and a long shadow fell over them. The boss was right above them, activating a sword skill. Kirito's mind raced in those few seconds, desperately searching for something to do, but it was cut off when suddenly a green glow appeared, and the descending nodachi was thrown back by a giant axe, the man Kirito vaguely remembered as Agil suddenly between them and the boss. The large axe-wielder glanced back at the, a small smirk crossing his face.

"Don't worry. We can hold him off until your health gets back up." Kirito couldn't say anything as Agil and several other players surged forward to meet the boss, who was already coming back with a vengeance. He had barely remembered there _were_ other people in the fight, his whole world having narrowed to just him, Bella, Asuna, and the boss. And now those people were fighting desperately, to give _him_ time to get back up to speed. Kirito had no idea what to do with that concept.

"You're the one who Diavel passed the mantle onto." Bella's voice was a whisper, but still he jerked his head to the side to see her standing there, those burning eyes studying the battle in front of them. She didn't say anything else, but Kirito had gotten the message. When Diavel died, they had all lost hope. The raven-haired boy hadn't paid attention, too wrapped up in the enormity of what the other man had just asked him to do, and his own realization of how pathetic and self-centered he had been, but now he remembered the shell-shocked and terrified looks on each of their faces as he took up his sword and passed them on the way to clash with the boss. Diavel, the best of them had fallen, and each and every one of them must have been tempted to give up right then, and let his dream die with him. That was why Diavel had asked Kirito what he did. And now… they had been inspired, when Kirito and the girls didn't give up. When they had continued to face the boss, continued to fight, it had given them new hope. And now they were fighting for that hope.

It wasn't long before the boss overwhelmed the others, tossing them all away like ragdolls with a swing of his sword, but by then Kirito was back up to almost full hp. He stood, gripping his sword tightly, and glanced to the girls already positioned at his shoulders.

"Come on, one last attack. Let's end this!" They charged forward once again, that shining trinity of silver, bronze, and the black of iron, ready to finish what they had started. One blow, Kirito deflecting the giant blade up high, Asuna and Bella slipping underneath to lash out with vicious determination. But Kirito didn't stop there, couldn't stop, not with the weight of responsibility hanging from his shoulders, and the ghost of Diavel guiding his sword as he threw himself forward one last time to strike, his momentum driving the sword in his hands up along the great red body until it was cut cleanly in half. It rose into the air, thrown up by the force of Kirito's final blow, and glowed , blinding everyone in the room for a split-second. Then, finally, it burst, the shards that had grown far too familiar in the last two months, and even more so in the last hour, bringing a measure of relief for once. The room was silent for a moment, everyone in the party too shocked at the thought that they had just accomplished such a difficult task. Then, as one man started to draw breath in an attempt to say something, a great banner appeared in the hall, with the word ' **congratulations!'** Upon it, and suddenly the room was filled with cheers as they all realized that yes, there might just be a single chance in hell that they could pull this off and earn their freedom.

"That was some fine swordsmanship back there. Today's victory is all thanks to you." Kirito, too tired to join in the celebration, looked up from the screen that had appeared in front of him to see Agil and Asuna standing above him, the girl nodding her assent to the big man's words. Bella was nowhere to be seen, but Kirito got the strangest feeling that she was likely just leaning against one of the pillars scattered about the room. Ignoring that for now, he shook his head. It had been Diavel, not him. He was just a coward that had been given a chance to make a horrible mistake right. There was nothing heroic about that, no matter how much they thought it.

"Stop it! Stop cheering!" Before Kirito could express his thoughts, a shout burst out from the middle of the room, and the crowd parted to reveal the orange haired man from before, Kibau, sitting there, tears in his eyes as he glared at Kirito. "Why'd you do it, huh? why'd you let Diavel die!?" Kirito couldn't think of anything to say. The question had struck far too close to home, and he couldn't stop the image of the health vial in his hands, held back by the feeble hand of a dying man.

"Let him die?" Kirito spoke without thinking, too shocked to control his own words.

"That's what I said. Admit it, you knew the technique the boss was going to use. You could've told us. Then Diavel would've stood a chance. He wouldn't have had to die!" Kirito could hardly believe what he was hearing yet again. Then it struck him. He had yelled out, telling Diavel it was no good to attack as soon as he recognized the weapon the boss was going to use. It _could_ have looked like that meant he knew what was going to happen beforehand, to the untrained eye.

Suddenly, all the people around them, except Agil, Asuna, and Bella, wherever she was, started murmuring, now doubting their previous belief in them. Then it got worse when one of them spoke up. "I know why he knew. He used to be a beta tester! Think about it, he knew the boss's attack patterns, he knew, but he kept it from us!" Kirito looked away, his head bowed in shame. No, he hadn't known the boss's attack patterns until he saw the different weapon, saw that it was different from what it should be, but not saving Diavel wasn't the only sin he had committed, and most had been done with his knowledge as a beta tester. He deserved the accusation. "And, I bet he's not the only beta-tester here. Come on, show yourselves." Kirito tried not to watch as everyone, even Agil and Asuna, started glancing around, looking for the so-called beta-testers. Before anyone could say anything though, before any more accusations could be said, suddenly the speaker let out a muffled shout, and a familiar dagger had appeared at his throat.

"Not one more word." Bella, standing behind the speaker in a way that let Kirito know that she had her other blade pressed against the small of the man's back, spoke in a tone filled with ice. The dark fire flickered in her eyes, and Kirito was suddenly very afraid that she might do something drastic if no one interfered. Then, he glanced back at the screen he had yet to close out, and a plan formed in an instant. A horrible one, so twisted in its goal that only someone who truly had no self esteem could pull off. And yet, that just made it perfect for him, with his new realizations, and desire to do some good in this world while they were still trapped there. So he started laughing. He laughed and laughed, a cold, haunting sound echoing loudly off the stone walls.

"So you guys think I used to be a beta-tester. It's not cool to put me in the same class with _those_ noobs." He stood, a dark smirk crossing his face. His eyes roved over the crowd, and when they met Bella's, he was surprised to see a flicker, the tiniest amount of light, break through the shadows filling them.

"What'd you say?" Growled Kibau, but his anger paled next to that of Bella's, and it was far too easy for Kirito to shrug dismissively as he stalked forward.

"You heard me. Most of the thousand people who scored a slot in SAO's beta test were rookies. They were so green, they didn't even know how to level up. Hell, even you guys are better than they were." Suddenly he came to a stop, right in front of Kibau, the smirk on his face growing into an evil grin. "But me, I'm nothing like those guys man. I reached levels that were higher than any of the other beta-testers, that's a fact." Suddenly he was cut off, Bella's tone ringing out in that familiar amused lilt he had first heard it in.

"Well, almost any." It was a struggle for Kirito not to jerk his head to her, but he managed, instead turning it slowly, languidly to meet her eyes. The fire was gone now, in its place an understanding so deep, it nearly took Kirito's breath away. She knew exactly what he was doing, what he planned on sacrificing, and he could see her decision to do the same written in her face, which was stretched in a near exact copy of his own twisted grin. He considered, for the briefest fluttering of a second, if he should try to stop her, since this was his sacrifice, and his burden alone to bear, but then there was a flicker of something. Not the hatred, not the darkness that had terrified him so much his very bones shook from the weight of it, but a plea, a desperation in her eyes to just let her do this, let her join him. Kirito had no idea why she would want to do such a thing, sacrifice so much, but Bella's desire was just as strong and deep as any of the other emotions he had seen in her, unfathomably so, and he couldn't deny it.

"Yes, _almost any_." That was where he remembered the name, where he had first heard the handle BellaLux. She was the one beta who had been better than him, gotten farther. He hadn't recognized her because no one would, since she was practically a ghost. People would catch sight of her for a few seconds in town, and then she would disappear again, gone for a few months. "I knew the boss's attack patterns because I've fought monsters with stronger, more complex patterns on floors far higher. I know a bunch of other things too. More than you can imagine. More than any info broker." The entire party looked shellshocked, staring at him with gaping mouths. Then, appearing to gather some measure of courage, Kibau spoke again.

"Then you're not just beta-testers, you're goddamn cheaters! You're- you're Beaters!" Kirito's grin widened slightly as almost everyone started agreeing. _Perfect._

"A Beater? Yeah, that's good. I like it." As Kirito spoke, he continued to stare into Bella's eyes, too afraid of losing control if he dared to turn anywhere else. He almost regretted it a moment later, however, as a flash of mischief sparked in her eyes at his words.

"Poetic." She agreed, and the crowd gasped at the purr in her tone, the boy she was still holding at knife point looking as if he had wet his pants. Kirito, however, stayed in character, the twisted grin devolving into a slightly less evil smirk as he opened his menu..

"Okay, you can call us Beaters. Just make sure you don't confuse us with those beta testers anymore." And that was the whole point, the entire reasoning behind his sacrifice. To drive it home, however, something more was needed, something to push the message seemed to have had the same idea, and Kirito couldn't help the legitimate smile that crept onto his face as an article of clothing appeared on her at the same moment his own popped out of thin air. Kirito's, for his part, was a sleek black trench coat, intimidating in its darkness. Bella, in contrast, summoned a light grey cloak, the hood lighter than her old one but still enough to hide most of her features except a few strands of steely hair poking out, lined with silver trimming. Kirito had to admit, Bella's earlier claim was true. Their contrast was quite poetic, especially since their color schemes were nearly opposite of the truth.

Kirito threw one last gloating smirk at the crowd before walking away with measured steps, only the slightest sound of cloth brushing over stone letting him know that Bella followed. It seemed he wasn't to make a clean getaway, however, as the sound of footsteps, too loud to be Bella's, sounded as the pair drew near the door, it's carvings seeming far less intimidating now that the battle had done. Kirito didn't pause, however, until he heard the voice.

"Wait." The boy froze, one foot resting on the next step. He didn't turn back however, allowing Asuna to continue.

"When we were fighting, you called me by my name." It wasn't a question, but Kirito, keeping with his new character, didn't bother to look at her as he spoke, only turning slightly towards the soft voice..

"I wasn't trying to be rude. Did I mess up the pronunciation?"

"How'd you even know it?" Kirito knew he couldn't begrudge the girl her hard tone, but it still hurt. Was this really what he had condemned himself to, the price of his atonement? He pushed those thoughts away however, and opened his mouth to speak. Before he could, though, he was cut off by the sound of Bella's voice, amusement oddly absent in the soft tone.

If you look here, right underneath your health bar. Should be a couple of names there." Kirito's eyes narrowed as he turned to glance at Bella out of the corner of his eye. She was pointing at the exact spot where Asuna's health bar should be, the other girl's eyes narrowing as she read the names.

"Kirito… and Bella? I can't understand the last bit." Kirito had to struggle not to stare in awe as his partner, or whatever she was, _laughed_ , the sound melodic as it bounced around the hall.

"Bella is fine." This time, even Kirito's control cracked at the cute giggle Asuna let out, and he was glad his face was still turned from the crowd.

"I'm so silly, it was there the whole time!" Kirito could do nothing more than nodding, although it felt odd to do so while facing a completely different direction. He did have one last piece of advice for the girl, however, a token of thanks for standing beside him.

"You can become strong here, on your own. But if the time comes when someone you trust asks you to join a guild, don't hesitate to accept. There are limits to what a solo player, even two of them, can accomplish."

"But you two are solo players." Kirito was caught off guard by the comment. He really didn't have anything to say to that. It wasn't like he could tell the girl why he was going off alone, or near enough. So he just turned away completely and continued walking away, Bella following close behind. After all, they were Beaters. There was no one else for them, anyways.


	3. Chapter 3:The Moonlit Black Cats

Fear coursed through Sachi's veins as she ran, stumbling over tree roots and rocks. The monsters were just behind her, and in her mind's eye she could see them, slavering jaws hanging open with drool from the thought of her tasty virtual flesh dripping from their fangs. She had always known she was going to die in this death game, had just been waiting. Really, she would have rather been hiding in a house at the town of beginnings, but… There was that tiny, cursed voice telling her that she should at least die with a blade in hand, fighting for survival. Then she could have something to say in the afterlife, at least.

With one last excruciating breath, Sachi's foot finally collided with something too hard to shift, and she crashed to the ground. She tumbled, coming back up facing her chasers, her eyes glazed in terror. She had no idea if her guild mates were even alive, let alone where they were. The ambush had been so sudden, so unexpected, they had scattered within the first few seconds. And now she would die out here, alone and terrified.

Sachi was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't even noticed the first of the bears with dark fur and demonic red eyes disintegrating, shards of light falling to the ground in place of its virtual body. It wasn't until the second met a similar fate that the girl reacted, squeaking as her eyes darted around for any sign of what had destroyed the Mobs. She spotted it a moment later, a flash of grey appearing over the back of the third and final bear, which had paused when its allies disappeared. Sachi barely picked out a soft grunt, before the beast howled in simulated pain, bursting into shards just as the others had and giving Sachi a glimpse of her saviour.

It was hard to see in the darkness of the forest, but the shaking girl could just make out a figure draped in grey robes with a hood over her head, the slightest glimpse of red lips showing underneath. Sachi's breath caught as the person stepped a bit closer, her head tilting to the side a little to allow a few strands of steel grey hair to fall out.

"Are you injured?" Instinctively, Sachi glanced to her lifebar. She had taken a few blows early in the fight, bringing her health dangerously close to the red, but it had recovered over the duration of her desperate run. She shook her head slightly, earning a slight smirk from the hooded girl. "Good. Stick close, there may be more about." hesitantly, Sachi took the hand that was offered with the words, pulling herself up. Her saviour said nothing more, instead turning back towards where Sachi had just come. Strangely, the young girl felt no hesitation at following her. Whoever this person was, she was strong. Perhaps even strong enough that with her help, Sachi might survive the night.

XXX

"Cheers!" Bella smiled slightly as she watched the celebrating group smash their glasses together, lifting her own to her lips. Kirito was there, ever at the center of attention, along with the guild of five that the two Beaters had rescued earlier that night. She herself was standing in the shadows, as was customary for her, keeping an eye out for trouble even as she observed her friend. It was always good for Kirito to socialize. Bella was certain she made horrible company, especially when stuck on the front lines for several months, with little to no contact otherwise.

"Hey, Kirito, where's your friend?" The guildmaster, Keita, asked. As Kirito's eyes landed on her hiding place, Bella knew he was aware of her presence, but wasn't worried that the black-haired boy would reveal it. He knew to respect her privacy. Indeed, as if in response to that very thought, Kirito waved a hand vaguely around himself as he answered.

"Around. Bella doesn't like crowds." Said girl was suddenly forced to choke back laughter at the comment. She actually didn't mind crowds at all; they were perfect places to disappear. She just preferred to observe, rather than be observed. People like her never retained their freedom for long if they were in plain sight. At least, that was the case before SAO.

"Oh, well, do you think she'd mind if you told us your levels?" Bella's lips quirked upwards. What was this guy up to?

"Uh, we're both level… twenty." Bella frowned at the answer. They were far higher than that, and Kirito knew it. _What the hell- oh._ Bella cut her thoughts off as she saw the nervousness reflected in Kirito's eyes from the light of the fire. These people didn't seem to recognize that they were Beaters, and the boy really was desperate for someone other than Bella to be with. More than that, he was desperate for even the slightest bit of the burden the two players had taken on to e relieved. Perhaps these people could help with that.

"Brilliant, that's just a couple levels above us! I've got a proposition for you two, then, but it can wait until she gets here." At the word proposition, Bella perked up, sitting just the tiniest bit straighter in her spot.

"You can say it now. She won't mind." Bella couldn't help but smile at the confidence in Kirito's voice. It was amusing to watch people react to things like that.

"Oh, uh, well then. We were wondering if, actually, you guys wanted to join our guild." For a moment, Kirito paused, glancing over to Bella. His eyes were wide in surprise, and just a touch of desire. It was obvious how much he really wanted this. With a small smile, Bella pushed herself up, stepping out of the shadows to place a hand on Keita's shoulder, surprising the entire group.

"I have no objection. Kirito?" Bella ignored the stares that everyone except Kirito was sending her, pulling up a chair calmly and glancing at her partner. He smiled at her antics, shaking his head.

"I think it's a good idea. It gets lonely out there, even with a partner." And just like that, Bella felt something shift inside her, and a warm glow filled her as she glanced around the table. They weren't the people from outside, the ones she had struggled side by side with before being trapped in SAO, but maybe, just maybe, they could become close enough. After all, a guild was like family.

XXX

As Bella stepped out of the teleportation, she paused, the quiet beeping of her message system attracting her attention. Curiosity driving her hand, she swiped to open her menu, then the message that popped up.

" _Hey, Bella. Sachi ran off, and we can't find her anywhere. I know you're pretty good at tracking, think you could give it a try?"-Kirito_

Ice filled Bella's veins as she listened to her best friend's voice. Sachi was the youngest and weakest of the group. If she had run off into the fields alone, for whatever reason, then she might be in danger. Even in a town, she wasn't particularly safe, since any unsavory characters that might be around would be drawn to her timid and fragile demeanor like moths to a flame. With this in mind, the silver-eyed girl set off, activating her Tracking skill as she went.

It didn't take long to find Sachi, the blue-haired girl leaving an obvious trail to the bridge she was sitting under. With a slight frown at the rather depressing choice of venue, Bella swung herself down to land on the thin walkway, only a few feet away from her quarry.

"There are better places to hide than under a bridge, you know." Sachi's head whipped up to look at her, and Bella was taken aback by the bloodshot eyes and tear-stained face. She had been crying, and it didn't look like they were tears of joy.

"Oh, it's just you, Bella. Figures you'd be the one to find me." When Bella heard the slight trembling in the girl's voice, an obvious and not very effective attempt to hide her emotions, she didn't hesitate. With a swift and graceful motion, the older girl took the last two steps to close the distance between them, before crouching down and wrapping the younger in her arms. Ignoring Sachi's yelp of surprise, Bella tucked the blue-topped head into her shoulder before speaking in a soft voice.

"What's wrong, little one?" Bella felt the girl in her arms stiffen at the unusual contact, but didn't let go, even tightening her grip as she shifted to sit down beside Sachi. "Speak. Holding your emotions in is never a good idea." _I should know._ She thought silently, but shook it off in order to focus on the person she was currently comforting. It was a position she was well-used to, despite never having believed she was an appropriate choice. After a few moments, in which Bella started to rock Sachi slightly, a motion which she knew from long experience could help calm people down, the younger girl spoke, her voice warbling.

"I-I'm scared." With a heavy sigh, Bella closed her eyes, fighting the well of emotions rising inside her as she listened. "I'm scared that someday, I won't be strong enough, and I'll die. That a monster will kill me, and I'll never get to see my family again." From where she was sitting, Bella started humming, even as Sachi suddenly burst into tears, mumbling apologies as she did so. The older girl sat and held her, letting the younger divulge herself of all her tears, despite the fact that her robe was getting ruined, even with the self-cleaning algorithms of the game. Only once the girl had shed everything she had, did Bella speak, having deemed it better to reason only once Sachi was no longer quite as emotional..

"So you're scared." A soft nod was her answer, and Bella smiled softly, although her companion couldn't see it from her position. "Okay, I can understand that. But tell me, were you afraid of being run over by a car in IRL?" Sachi stiffened at the odd question, and when Bella willingly let her arms fall apart, the younger girl rose from her position to look at the older's eyes with her own confused ones..

"Wh-what does that have to do with anything?"

"Just answer the question." Bella said and so Sachi shook her head. "Then were you afraid of being mugged and shot? Or of choking on your food?" Again, the younger girl's head swung from side to side, confusion written clear across her face.

"Why are you asking me this?" She questioned, her voice hoarse from the crying.

"Because you need to hear it. All those things I just asked? Those are very real dangers in the real world, just as likely to kill you as a monster is here in Aincrad, but you never thought about them, did you?"Now, with just a tiny bit of understanding crossing her face, Sachi shook her head once again, prompting Bella to continue. "It's ironic, really. IRL and SAO aren't all that different, if you actually think about it. The real world is just as dangerous as in here, if not more so. The only difference is that where there the danger is hidden behind an veil and illusion of safety, while Aincrad just shoves it in your face. Funny, isn't it? The game is more honest than reality." Bella's smile had now turned bitter, and Sachi stared at her. There was something broken in the older girl now, a kind of sad resignation with depth that far outstripped Sachi's own self-pity, and, hesitantly, she reached out to touch the her shoulder.

"But… if that's how you feel, why do _you_ fight? If you're so sure the world is dangerous whether in real life or not, why try to get out?" Bella just gave a tired chuckle, leaning her head back to rest it on the wall behind her and closed her eyes.

"Because I'm not trying to save myself. I could care little and less whether I die or not. It's going to happen eventually, so why bother? No, it's not me I'm worried about."

"Who, then?"

"The lost souls." At the answer, Sachi froze, tilting her head in confusion. What did she mean by that? As if she had felt the motion, since her eyes were closed and she was unable to see, Bella lifted her head, opening her eyes to look into Sachi's. "I fight for the children taken from their parents, the separated lovers, and the siblings divided by different realities. I fight for those taken from their families and loved ones without a choice, in order to fulfill this mad, sick ambition of Kayaba's. For those who died lost and confused, without a soul to note their last actions, and those who are yet to meet a similar fate. They may die later, in days, months, or even years from now, but i'll be damned if I don't do my best to ensure that when that time comes, they have someone to hold their hand as they leave the world, virtual or otherwise."Sachi was struck cold by the words, never having guessed at such a depth from her guild mate. Bella had always seemed so distant, cool and calm and collected. Sure, Kirito looked at her with a great respect, and he would always mention that she was more than she seemed, but Sachi had never actually thought of the possibility. Now, she didn't know what to say to the older girl.

"How do you do it? How do you risk your life for people you don't even know?" Bella smiled sadly, her eyes finally leaving Sachi's to stare at the water in the river beside them.

"There's no how about it. It's just… someone has to. Why not me?" Her head turned back to Sachi's, and the younger girl's breath was stolen by the shimmering kindness of Bella's quicksilver eyes, the moonlight playing across them like captured fairies. She couldn't say anymore, but she did lean forward and wrap Bella within a tight hug, a proper one this time. The older girl was just so… _selfless._ She didn't even really think what she was doing was important, just a service she could provide.

It was a long while before the two girls left that bridge, too comfortable to move out into the night's cold, but when they did, Sachi was feeling almost reborn . Yes, she could be a coward, and end her life, but that wouldn't do any good, she could now see. She would be leaving so many others behind to suffer without her, and Bella all alone to carry her burden. She had seen it, amidst the sparkling light and currents of quicksilver; a tiny shred of darkness, a depthless exhaustion from bearing her burden, even if Bella would never admit it. And now… now Sachi would help her carry that burden, even if it meant dying along the way. If nothing else, she could spare the older girl the pain of worrying over her. It was the least she could do, after all, for the one who had saved her life, among so many others.

XXX

Bella smiled from the back of the group, watching Sachi as she took the lead in their tromp through the twenty-seventh floor. The young woman had grown so much in the past few weeks since that night under the bridge. There was a determination burning within her, and while Bella may not have know what exactly changed, she was glad of it. No longer was the blue-haired girl timid and weak;she had slowly but surely started taking on more and more responsibility within the guild, both on the field and off of it, and the change showed.

Bella was drawn out of her musings when she heard a sudden call of admiration from Ducker, who was right behind Sachi. As the hooded girl raised her head to see what the fuss was, she noted a tension in Kirito who was just a little ahead of herself, and when she saw the open door leading to an almost empty room with just a single chest, she knew exactly why. Kirito and Bella, as Beaters, had both been up to this floor and beyond already, and traps like these were almost commonplace. Before she could call out a cry of warning, however, Sachi, Ducker, and the other two exclaimed loudly in delight and ran forward without hesitation. With a muttered curse, the hooded girl dove forwards, right behind Kirito.

The instant her companion crossed the threshold, a chill ran up Bella's spine, and she knew something was wrong. Before she could wonder what it was, however, a wall snapped down directly in front of her, cutting the girl off from the rest of her guild.

 _No,_ She thought, her veins turning to ice. Eyes wide, she stepped forward and laid a hand to the wall, unable to believe what she was seeing. _No no no no no no no no no no no no no…_ With a yell of frustration, Bella smacked a hand against the wall, ignoring the sharp pain that erupted underneath the skin. This could not be happening.

As she struggled to get in, utilizing all the techniques and skills she could think of, Bella was forced to listen as a loud blaring alarm rang throughout the room just beyond her reach, and the chitter of monster appeared. As she worked, shudders ran through her when one, and then another cry of surprise and loss rang through the air, and three voices fell silent. Then, finally, her heart jumped with victory as the door once again slid open, only to dive even deeper into her gut at the horrible scene before her.

Ducker, Sasamaru, and Tetsuo were nowhere to be seen, and a pang of dread struck Bella's heart for a moment. That was nothing, however, when she saw Sachi, separated from Kirito by far too much space for her warning shout to do any good, was approached from behind by a stone golem. With wide, helpless eyes, she watched as the girl was struck and thrown forward, not a sound escaping from her. The world seemed to slow down, and for a moment, Bella could've sworn that she saw the pale pink lips of the dying girl forming words, even as her turquoise eyes met Bella's own quicksilver ones. A moment later, the girl burst into shards of blue light, and Bella's mind blanked.

The Beater turned to the horde of monsters, Kirito barely visible among their clustered forms. In what seemed like several long seconds, a heat started to build up within her, and her hands unconsciously went to the two daggers strapped to her thighs. There was no feasible way they could win this. Even two Beaters, who by all rights should have been on far higher levels, wouldn't be able to defeat the sheer number of monsters in this room. But they had killed Sachi. Another soul lost to Kayaba's sick games and twisted ambition. One who had just started to break her way out of the fear and despair that had trapped her. Tetsuo, Sasamaru, and Ducker were gone too, innocents, so full of life and light just a few moments before, struck down with cold and brutal efficiency. Now, Kirito, too, was trapped, with no way out and a horde of monsters between him and the door. Kirito, that kindred soul whose light she had followed out of the first floor boss room those long months ago, Taking the hatred and scorn of the entirety of Aincrad in order to protect other Beta Testers.

 _No._ The thought rang through her like a bell on a cold winter's day. No. This was not how it was going to end. They had fought through so much, sacrificed so much, and Kayaba had taken enough from them this day.

With a silent determination, Bella frew the blades whose pommels her hands were resting on, spinning them up into a ready position. Then, as the heat of pain and anger reached a boiling point in her, she took a step forward. No more. Enough had been lost this day.

XXX

Bella's eyes were dry as her hand scraped across the faded, crossed out names on the wall of life, but inside, she was swirling with a storm of emotions, leaving her feeling cold and hollow as she stared. Beside her, Kirito's grief was much more obvious to behold, the silent tears dripping to the floor with an echoing drip. For several long hours, they had stood there, just staring at the four names carved out with a cruel, impersonal streak, one slightly more recent than the others. Now, Kirito turned to her, his broken voice a hoarse whisper as he asked desperately, "What now? They're gone, and… i don't know what to do, Bella."

The girl looked at him, a sliver of pity breaking through the other emotions to shine in her quicksilver eyes. Kirito, more than she ever had, needed the guild. He was a self-sacrificing fool, it was true, but he was also one who needed something to keep him stable. He needed someone to protect, a home to make him feel wanted, even if the entire rest of the world was out to kill him. Bella was there, of course, but it wasn't enough. _She_ wasn't enough, broken as she was. The tearless eyes were testament to that.

For a moment, Bella looked at him, the events of the last twenty four hours washing over her. They were the last of the Moonlit Black Cats. Again, it was just the two of them, but now there were four ghosts walking behind them, visible in the blue edgings on either of their chosen outfits. So much loss, in such a short amount of time… there was only one thing _left_ to do. They couldn't just break down and stop fighting. Keita's dream had been so much more than that, and as she turned back to the stone, her hand once again brushing his name, she spoke, her quicksilver eyes hardening with hatred at the man who had broken such a promising man, and a great leader.

" We fight." She said simply, and when Kirito turned his tear streaked face to her, she took another deep breath before continuing. "That bloody bastard sitting on his golden throne wants to break us, so we don't let him. We can't save those who have passed, but they're not the only ones left. There are still over seven-thousand players in this game, and no matter how much _shit_ he throws at us, I'm not giving up. With every loss, with every attempt to drive us into despair, we're going to spit in Kayaba's face, and we _fight_. Because all of this?" Bella's arm jerked out, and she turned the motion into a wide sweeping gesture, indicating the entire wall of life. "All of this is on him. I once told Sachi that the real world is just as dangerous as the virtual one, and that's true. But how and when these people died? That's his fault. They died separated from their loved ones with their entire lives ripped away from them, lost and afraid in a world they were trapped in against their will, and their blood is on _his_ hands. _That_ is his sin, and I plan on making that bloody bastard pay for it with every last drop of his soul." Kirito stared at the girl beside him, breathing heavily from her rant. Then, slowly, a small smile came over him, and he reached up to wipe away his tears.

"You're right. The others wouldn't want us to be acting like this, would they?" He asked, earning a snort from Bella as the tension that had been stretched tight between the two was shattered.

"Of course not. All three of the guys would be teasing us to no end, and Sachi would just watch on laughing." With a laugh of his own, Kirito nodded, and suddenly his entire body drooped, the last of the despair and grief that had overcome him before gone. There was just something about Bella that didn't allow him to be sad around her for long.

With one final glance back to the stone where the four names that they would forever hold dear to their hearts resided, the two Beaters and Black Cats gave each other a small nod, and turned to walk out of the room, their heads held high, and eyes blazing with determination. They had work to do.

XXX

 **All right, it is finally here! Okay, I know a lot of you have probably been waiting ever so patiently for this, or anything from me, really, so I must apologize for the uncommonly long wait. I have been suffering a severe bout of writer's block recently, and have barely been able to get anything done at all. Hopefully, that is a thing of the past, but we shall see. For now, here is your new chapter of The Silver Shadow, and I hope you enjoy! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave a Review or PM me. See ya!**


	4. Chapter 4: Of Rats and Roses

"Looks like I've caught myself a Rat." A mousy, teenaged girl standing in a shadowy corner of the tavern froze, a familiar silver dagger tickling her throat. It would seem the client was early.

"I thought shadows were supposed to be silent." She stated quietly, not moving an inch. She wasn't in any danger, she knew. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry when dealing with one of the most deadly players of SAO. A small gasp escaped her, however, when she felt a phantom touch appear at her waist, playing with the hem of her shirt.

"You know very well just how _loud_ I can be." Her captor's voice was liquid silk, and the girl had to stifle a shudder of sensation sliding through her at the memories it invoked. _Damn, always playing me like a fiddle._

"Stop it," She said, slapping the hand and its questing fingers away. "I know you're not serious." She turned then, a scowl crossing her face as her breath was stolen by the sight of familiar quicksilver eyes, dancing with the firelight of a nearby hearth. _Goddamnit, just as unfairly beautiful as always._

"I'm not the one who left in the morning, Argo." The woman before Argo smirked as she spoke, a lightly accusing lilt to her voice, and Argo sucked in a sharp breath. The info broker knew she had forgiven the Rat long ago for that particular action, but it still hurt to hear her say it.

"Of course not Bella. You're too kind for that." She said, trying to maintain some measure of composure. She hated it when the Beater cornered her like this, giving her that playful smile and invading her personal space. Every time it made Argo regret the decision she had made those long months ago, even with how right she knew it had been. She would never be what Bella wanted, what she needed, despite how much she wished she could claim those cherry-red lips with her own once again. Bella's smile turned bitter at the comment, and she took a languid step backwards, deliberately casual as she retreated the sense of intimacy between the two girls.

"I've told you before. I'm not kind." She said, and Argo was forced to look away before she was lost once again within the currents of quicksilver. With her pulse racing slightly, she moved to change the subject, knowing from experience that this was one battle she wouldn't win.

"I've got a job for you and that 'friend' of yours."

"Do mine ears deceive me? Is that perhaps a mite of jealousy I hear in your voice?" Argo glared at the slightly mocking tone, annoyance flickering across her flushing face. She wasn't jealous, dammit! She just… didn't like how close Bella was with the famed Black Swordsman, for the same reasons she had chosen not to pursue a true relationship with the girl.

"I'm not jealous, Bella. I just don't think he'd a good boyfriend for you." Argo said, red as a tomato. Why did Bella have to be so tantalizingly beautiful, especially when she gave that small knowing smile, as if she could read Argo's mind, but wasn't planning on sharing?

"Of course not, Argo, I'm merely teasing. You are correct however, which is why it's not like that, as I have told you time and time again. Kirito's like a little brother, if nothing else." Argo nodded, having heard it all before. She knew Bella was telling the truth; her problem was that she didn't think Kirito felt the same way. She hadn't met the boy more than a couple times, but he always he seemed far too close to Bella. It could be something different, but the Rat doubted it.

"Right. Anyways, this is one of those 'bleeding heart' type things you two are always doing. A small guild of green players were ambushed by an orange guild, called Titan's Hand. The lone survivor has been going around begging for help getting justice."

"Titan's Hand? I don't think I've ever heard of them before."

"They stick mostly to the lower floors, so I wouldn't have expected it. Recently they've been getting a bit more ambitious though." Bella nodded thoughtfully at the answer, and Argo knew by the glint in her eyes that she was planning something. The girl could be very devious, she knew, in more ways than one.

"What are you thinking? I can see it in your eyes that this isn't going to be a simple hunt." Bella eyed the info-broker for a few moments, before a slow smile broke over her face.

"Oh, don't worry Argo. You said they were starting to go to higher floors, correct.?" Argo nodded, and then stifled a shudder as Bella's smile suddenly turned vicious. "Well then. I wonder if they're recruiting."

XXX

"Hold on." Silica stopped as the boy beside her issued a command, glancing at him curiously. Kirito wasn't paying her any mind, however, his eyes on the trees just at the end of the bridge they were standing on. "Whoever's out there, come out." He called, and Silica frowned. Who was he talking to? Her confusion was wiped away a moment later, when a very familiar face stepped out from behind a tree, her face twisted into an all-too confident smirk which brought a shiver to Silica's spine.

"Oh, so you saw me, did you? Your detection skill must be _very_ high to have surpassed my hiding skill." Rosalia's voice was as sultry as ever, but the ravenette's features didn't waver an inch, the stone-cold demeanor he had adopted a few moments before making kirito look like a completely different person than the one Silica had come to know over the past two days.

"I've got a friend who loves to play hide-and-seek." he commented, allowing himself a small smirk. It was perhaps a bit of an understatement, but true enough. Before he could say anything else, however, Silica spoke up, disbelief coloring her voice.

"Rosalia, is that you?" At the young girl's words, the redhead smiled viciously, and Kirito shifted imperceptibly to ready himself for an attack. Rosalia didn't attack, however, and Kirito narrowed his eyes at her.

"Rosalia, is it? Leader of the orange guild, or should I say, Titan's Hand?"A smirk threatened to break out on Kirito's face, but it died when Rosalia didn't seem too worried about his knowledge. _Huh,_ he thought. _Maybe she's more confident than we thought._

"Good for you, little boy. Now, move aside before you get hurt, unless she's already got you wrapped around her little finger?" Silica gasped at the threatening tone in Rosalia's voice. Sure, the older girl had always been a bully, but her cursor was green.

"But she can't be a member of Titan's Hand. Her cursor's green!" Silica whimpered, but Rosalia just let out a cruel laugh. Kirito, his eyes dark with pity, shook his head, even as he kept watch on the woman.

"It's a common tactic for orange guilds to use. The green players get close to their targets, and then lure them into a trap." Silica gasped sharply, and Rosalia laughed again.

"Oh, you really are a smart one, aren't you? Of course, I didn't come without friends." With a snap of her fingers, eight people came stalking out of the trees, most heavily armed. Several were bearing swords or axes of some kind, and there was even one way in the back with no visible weapons, its entire form covered in a dark brown cloak. Silica shuddered as she looked at them all. There were a few with green icons still, but she had no doubt that was only true because they had yet to have a chance of sullying them. "Now, surrender the Pneuma Flower, before somebody gets hurt."

Terror coursing through her, Silica turned to Kirito, and started to beg with a shaking voice. "Kirito, there's too many of them. Let's just give them the flower, and We'll find another way to-" She was suddenly cut off by a hand patting the top of her head, and the young girl looked up with wide eyes to see her companion giving her a small, but kind smile.

"Nah, I've got this. Stand back, and have that teleport crystal handy, alright?" Instantly, her fears melted away, and although Silica knew she probably shouldn't, she nodded, stepping back to watch.

"Alright Kirito, if you say so. Just… don't die." He nodded, and then stalked towards the crowd at the foot of the swordsman smirked as they started to whisper among themselves, his heightened listening skill letting him hear all of their fears and worries about him being the Black Swordsmen. Bella had laughed the first time she heard that title, but hey, if it worked, it worked. And right now, it was definitely starting to drive fear into their hearts.

"Shut up you buffons! There's seven. Even if he was the Black Swordsmen, where's his Silver Bitch? Don't the rumors say she never leaves his side?" At this, Kirito raised his eyebrows, before letting out a low whistle. Silver Bitch, eh? It was an interesting play on her usual title, at least. Bella must be laughing her ass off.

Finally, it seemed as if the lackeys had gathered up the courage to attack, but as they started forward, Kirito was surprised to see Rosalia grasp the back of the hooded one's cloak, holding it back "For insurance". Still, he stood stalk still as the other's attacked. This might actually work in his favor.

At the back of the bridge, Silica watched in horror as Kirito just stood still, allowing himself to be attacked. What was wrong with him? Then, with a small gasp, she saw his health bar suddenly jump back up to full. _What?_

"About four hundred." The entirety of the orange guild glared at Kirito, a small smirk starting to make its way across his face. "That's about how much damage you seven can do to me in ten seconds."

"What's going on?" Rosalia yelled, her face twisted into an ugly snarl. She had no idea what this bastard was playing at, but she was determined to get to the bottom of this.

"Simple, really. Your men can only do about four hundred damage in ten seconds. I am level seventy nine. I've got twelve thousand and five hundred hit points, and my battle healing skill regenerates about six hundred points per ten seconds. To put it simply, we can do this all day, and you wouldn't be any closer to killing me." At the cold, factual response, the entire clearing fell silent, staring at him in shock. Then after a few moments, one of the Titan's Hand members spoke up.

"But-but that's not-"

"Not fair? As my best friend would say, life's not fair, and neither are MMO's. With the leveling system, anyone can become invincible, if you've got high enough stats. Don't talk to me about what's not fair." The last words swept through them with a dark intensity, and Rosalia frowned. She hadn't expected him to be this powerful, but she could still work through this. Turning to the person beside her, she spoke.

"Perhaps you're right, Swordsman, but it matters not. You, do your job." The brown hood shifted to face Rosalia, before out of its depths came a feminine voice, amusement lacing its tone as she spoke in a voice of velvet.

"With pleasure." In a flahs, the hooded girl raised her arms, two silver daggers spinning into her grasp from beneath the cloak, before she moved, so fast if Silica had blinked she would've missed it. The woman didn't move towards Kirito, however. With a sidestep, she moved behind her supposed boss, before raising a dagger to Rosalia's throat. For a moment, the bridge and its surrounding area was eerily silent. Then, after a few moments, it was shattered by an outraged shout.

"What is the meaning of this? I said do your job, not put a blade to my neck!" The brown hood tilted in a clearly condescending manner, before its owner's free hand reached up, and with a small chuckle, removed it. Silica gasped at the sight. She couldn't see the color of the woman's eyes from here, but she _did_ clearly have beautiful steel gray hair, not to mention exotic western features that were highly unusual in SAO. The most amazing thing about the woman, however, was her smirk, a predatory smile that made her shiver.

"Oh, but i _am,_ Rosalia. See, i was hired to take you, and all your little lackeys, to jail with this little teleport crystal."With a blurred motion, the silver-haired woman brought out a blue stone, sparkling in the sunlight. A small smirk crossed her face, and she tossed it to Kirito, who caught it easily. "See, Kirito here was just a distraction. I'm the one who took the job from the guild leader and last survivor of the Silver Flags." Rosalia, forgetting for a moment the predicament she was in, rolled her eyes at the name. Of course it was them.

"Oh right. The losers with no money."

"Exactly. Now, their leader spent the last week, begging all he came across to bring you to justice. You do know what that word means, don't you?" Rosalia didn't answer, as the silver-haired woman's dagger had pressed closer to her skin, just shy of breaking it.

"You can't hurt me. If you do, you'll turn into an orange player!" She practically shrieked, but her captor just smiled coldly, a sight which brought shivers to the spines of all the other players still on the bridge, even Kirito. _Damn, she can be vicious she wants to be._

"Aw, isn't that cute. You think we care." Rosalia shuddered as the girl adopted her own sickeningly sweet voice, which was surprisingly accurate. Then, she froze, as she suddenly felt a hot breath on her ear, and the voice that whispered into it sent fear shooting through her veins. "We're Beaters, Rosalia. We don't give a single shit about going orange for a few days. Remember that, next time you feel like committing a crime." the voice pulled away, and Rosalia let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding. Before she could say anything else however, the woman behind her decided to get one last word in. "And it's Shadow, by the way. Bitch is too… boring.

XXX

"O you were following us the whole time?" Bella nodded, and Silica blushed at the thought. Just how much did she see.

"Yes, I was watching over you both, until i had to join up with Rosalia. Cute undies, by the way. You shouldn't have stopped before answering the door." Silica's blush deepened, even as the boy in question looked on, confused. He had no idea what the two girls were talking about, but he suspected it was something highly embarrassing, and included him, if the highly amused grin Bella was sending his way was any indication. Still, he deigned not to question it, and attempted to turn the conversation back towards more important business.

"Anyways, we should probably revive Pina now, shouldn't we?" With a squeal of remembrance, Silica agreed, and made for the small round table in the middle of the tavern room. There, she carefully brought the item 'Pina's Heart' out of her inventory, and then the Pneuma Flower. After a quick look towards the two older players in the room, she allowed three drops of the flower's nectar to fall upon the feather-like item. For a second, nothing seemed to happen, until suddenly the Heart started to glow. It slowly grew brighter and brighter, until with a final flash of light, it disappeared, and in its place was a familiar blue , the young girl reached towards the small animal with reverence, not quite believing her eyes. Then, with a joyful squeak, it jumped into her arms, and she knew the truth. Her friend really was back.

"A good day's work, I'd say." Bella, leaning against the doorsill with her arms crossed over her chest, glanced at ther partner, smiling softly at the content expression on his face. It had been a long time since she had seen him so happy, and even proud of himself.

"Yeah, I suppose so. Although you did overdo it a bit with the whole angsty thing.

"Hey, I was not angsty!"

"Of course you were. 'It's not normal at all'? You don't call that angst?" Kirito glared at Bella's smug grin. She was right, but he didn't want to admit it. Still he grit his teeth, and bit out a response, hating it the whole way.

"Fine, whatever. It got the job done though, didn't it?" Bella's face softened as she heard the words, turning her gaze towards where the younger girl was playing happily with her newly revived dragon. She watched them for a few seconds, before turning back to Kirito, her quicksilver eyes shining in the candlelight, and he knew the same pride that he saw there was reflected in his own.

"Yeah. Yeah it did."

XXX

 **Alright, here's another chapter for you all. First off, i just want to say that no, Bella will not be ending up with Argo. They have had a past before (and if you have a problem with them both being girls, you can fuck off right now because I don't give a damn, Bella is and always will be lesbian, no matter what other characters may think) and even a one night stand, but that will** _ **stay**_ **in the past. Now, they are just friends, and nothing more. Otherwise, I must apologize if she is a bit out of character in this one. It's starting to get a bit late as i write this, and other than the first part i had some difficulty getting this chapter to flow. It should still be good enough, but as always with this story, it is really hard to keep to the spirit of the canon while still being creative in my own way. I hope i did a good enough job, at least.**

 **Now, before i let you go, I wanted to do a shout out and give a large congratulations to another writer, Arctic01. Go check out him and his story 'The Tri-blade Alliance' where Bella has made a recent appearance, and will quite possibly make more. He is a pretty good writer, and does an excellent portrayal of her character in his story, so please, give it and him all the love you have to spare.**

 **Well, I suppose that is it, for now. Feel free to PM me about anything you may want to say or have questions about, or just put it into a Review. See ya!**


	5. Chapter 5:Taken

"One meal." Underneath her hood, Bella smiled as the iron-hard Lightning Flash and vice-commander of the BOK let slip a tiny bit of humanity towards the Shadow's partner. The young woman had changed much since that day in Illfang's lair. Long gone was the unsure, newbie with surprisingly impressive skills, and in her place stood a tried and hardened warrior who had earned every bit of power she possessed. The fire of determination Bella and Kirito had both been witness to still burned bright, and even now the older girl, who was currently sitting in the tree above her partner and Asuna, could see it brightening just a bit as the Kirito accepted her offer of a meal. Granted, the Lightning Flash had no idea Bella was anywhere near at the time, let alone the one _actually_ watching over their sleeping forms, but perhaps this could be a chance for Kirito to branch out. He had been very withdrawn after the… incident.

As her partner and his companion slipped away down the road, Bella leaned back against the tree, her eyes closing in bliss. She would allow the two their privacy, knowing full well that Asuna was more than capable of watching over Kirito for a few hours. She was just about to slip off into a restful sleep, when there was a slight shift in the wind caressing her hair, and the young woman's eyes snapped open. Not a moment too soon, her head shifted to the side, just barely allowing a knife to slide past her cheek without breaking the virtual skin. In an instant, her senses were all on high alert, and she slid up into a crouch, balancing on the branch with cat-like grace.

It took less than a second for the girl to realize she was surrounded, the twenty or so figures arranging themselves around the tree in a somewhat professional manner, and all dressed in ragged, dirty hoods and cloaks. She had a suspicion as to who exactly she was facing, but regardless of whether she was right or not, these people were most certainly hostile. Quicksilver eyes narrowed in curiosity as one of the hooded figures broke off from their position in the group and approached, not missing the lazily twirling knife in their hands, which glistened with poison in the sunlight.

"BellaLux, or should I say the Silver Shadow? You certainly live up ot your reputation. Not many can dodge my knives." One steel-gray eyebrow raised in tandem with a small smirk, despite none of the surrounding people being able to see it under her hood. At least they were in the same position for once. Whoever was coordinating these people was intelligent enough to have them cover their faces as well. Still, it would appear she was at a disadvantage, as they knew exactly who she was.

"Before you continue with your monologue, which I'm sure is quite interesting, I would ask your names. They'll be needed for the gravestones." As The speaker tensed, Bella's smirk grew. Professional as their coordinator was, the foot soldiers would almost invariably lack such precision. If such a simple insult could get to this man, then she probably wasn't dealing with someone high-up.

"That would be… unnecessary. All you need do is come with us." Bella's smirk stilled, and the orbs of quicksilver hardened underneath her hood.

"You haven't even bought me dinner yet. I'm afraid I must decline.." With a small whistling of air, another knife thunked into the wood behind Bella, and the girl let out a low whistle.

"Fancy. You've got decent accuracy at least, but my answer remains the same. Rude and raggedy isn't really my type."

"It was not a request." The response was a low, throaty growl, and Bella tensed as a ripple went through the ranks of those surrounding her. With little else for warning, a sudden rain of daggers and knifes were winging their way through the air towards her position, the paralysis poison lacing their blades shining in the sun. A moment later, however, each and every one thunked into empty wood, and the nearest enemy let out a sudden yelp as a silver dagger rested itself upon his throat. For a moment, the man was consumed with fear, certain he was about to meet his end. That was not the case, however. With a slight exhalation of breath at his ear, the blade tore through his virtual skin, but rather than seeing his health bar decline, each of his digital muscles locked instantaneously, and he collapsed with his screen darkening.

With ferocious speed, Bella spun through the ranks around her, a terrible grin stretched wide across her face. Her enemies couldn't risk throwing their weapons in such a friendly-thick field, and she had caught them by surprise with her speed. She slipped around their clumsily swung blades, kicking out legs and slashing small, but ultimately harmless wounds upon them. She had equipped her daggers with a rare poison, which negated all damage against player enemies, but in exchange would knock them out cold with a single strike. The fact that it had to be crafted by hand, and most of the ingredients were only located on floor forty only made it more uncommon, and Bella watched with vicious satisfaction as it did its work.

WIthout warning, the world suddenly upended, and Bella was forced to roll over her shoulder in order to prevent being caught flat on the ground. Coming up into a ready crouch, her eyes scanned the battlefield, her entire body buzzing like a live wire. She had cleaned out at least half of them, all of whom were now laid out on the ground. She must have tripped over one, and silently, the Shadow cursed her own inattention. The open field may have been littered with unconscious enemies, but there were still quite a few up and well, closing in on her with deadly intent. For a moment, the girl thought about running, then pushed the thought away. She could probably get away, sure, but despite being outnumbered heavily, these people likely weren't very skilled. Bella needed information, and the only way to get that was by capture and interrogation.

"Gentleman, as much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, I don't think this is going to work out between us. How about a compromise? You take the house, and I'll keep the kids." Her lips curled into a smirk at the ten bewildered faces looking back at her. It dropped a moment later, however, when the sound of shuffling movement from behind had Bella spinning. She barely had time to register a large form when something grasped her throat, cutting off her breath in a gurgled choke with its iron grip. A moment later, she felt her back and head slam into something hard, and a gasp escaped her as pain exploded between her eyes. Bella struggled to blink back the stars in her vision, but before she could, what little breathing she still remained capable of was blocked as some sort of cloth was shoved into her mouth. Mere seconds later, everything turned dark, just as a deep baritone voice, one that a tiny corner of her mind still functioning sparked in recognition of, spoke a series of words which would sear themselves into her brain for the rest of her days.

"You've already abandoned your children, Tenshi-chan. And now you shall pay the price."

XXX

As Bella felt herself floating up from the darkness that had consumed her, she groaned. Her head was pounding with pain, and she could feel hard stone underneath the tender skin, a sensation she was well-acquainted with. For a moment, before she opened her eyes, the young woman thought that perhaps she had finally escaped SAO, and was resting after a brawl in the streets. The heavy lids came up a second later, however, and with the resulting sight a rush of memories filled her. _Shit, I was captured by Laughing Coffin._

The image of a stone ceiling prompted Bella to sit up, and she did so with a heavy grunt as her sight went blurry. She barely baught herself before tipping over the short distance back to the floor, her entire thought process, undeveloped as it was, scrambled by the simple motion.

"You're awake." Bella's head turned slowly at the monotone voice, struggling not to send more waves of pain and confusion through herself as she did so. Across the room, which she now saw was a stone cell, sparsely decorated, was a man. Dressed all in black with a hood over his head, Bella couldn't make much out about him, except the glowing red eyes shining from under his hood.

"So it would seem." Bella replied, pleased when her vision remained stable. With a sigh, she leaned against a nearby wall, and again she remained stable. Apparently whatever was wrong with her was slowly losing its grip. She expected the man to say something else, but after several minutes it became apparent that would not be the case. Finally, Bella deemed herself completely back to speed, and decided to figure out just what the hell was going on.

"Where exactly are we?"

'I don't know."

"Who are you?"

"No one important."

" _Why_ are we here?"

"I don't care." Bella groaned in frustration as all she received were non-committal answers. She was locked up with a social mute. _How lovely._

You're not going to answer anything I ask, are you?"

"If I don't know the answers, or they're personal, yeah. I'm not here to get to know you." Bella groaned again, leaning her head back and closing her eyes to listen to a nearby _drip, drip, drip,_ of water.

"Of course not, you're here because Laughing Coffin abducted you as well. Any ideas why?"

"Perhaps they wish to recruit us." Bella chuckled at the thought and the hooded man sent her a confused look. "Did I say something funny?"

"Not really, but if that was really the reason, then they're doing a lousy job of it. Unless a stint in the dungeons is meant to be some kind of test. I'm probably bloody well failing it as well." The hooded man continued to look at her for a second, before returning to his previous position of staring at the wall. Bella, sensing an obvious wish for her to be silent, complied,

Bella wasn't sure how long it was until something changed, but it couldn't have been more than thirty minutes before there came a loud squeak of severely rusted hinges, and a dark form appeared at the end of the hall outside their cell. Bella's quicksilver eyes narrowed as she studied the man stalking down the rough-cut stone passageway. He wasn't particularly large, built more for speed and precision than strength, nor did she recognize him by build alone. The man stopped directly in front of their cell, and Bella sucked in a breath as she waited to see what he would do.

"Well, well, if it isn't the great Shadows. What a pleasure to meet you!" Bella winced as the high, cackling voice bounced around the walls, echoing painfully off the old stone.

"And I never expected to come across the Wicked Witch of the West. I'm honored." Bella bit out sarcastically, a light smirk crossing her face as the man's features twisted into an ugly expression under his hood.

"Lippy, too. I guess the boss was right about you." Bella's face went cold. Boss? The only people who knew anything about her in SAO were either in jail, dead, or good people who would never have anything to do with a murder guild. Who the hell could this guy be talking about.

"You know the boss of Laughing Coffin?" Asked the man in black from her side, and Bella whipped her head around to look at him.. He was staring at her in a manner she really didn't like, and Bella was forced to bite back an insult.

"No, I don't. Although I would love to make his acquaintance... preferably with my dagger in his gut." The last part she shot at their gaoler, a predatory smirk crossing her face. Again, the man's features grew angry, and he opened the door with a jerky motion.

"It' your lucky day, then. The boss wants to meet you as well." He giggled, and a moment of suspicion washed through her. As far as she knew, LC didn't take prisoners, _ever_. Why would they not only leave her alive, but even the big leader wanted to meet her? This was looking worse and worse by the second, but she had little choice. They had already taken her weapons, she knew. If she didn't want to become yet another victim of the murder guild, then she needed to cooperate, and maybe she'd figure out what this was all about.

The LC member's handling of both her and the other man was rough, but she just smiled dangerously at him. Bella had suffered far worse in her life, and his petty attempts at intimidation amused her. Her companion, however, only glared, which served just as well in terrifying their captor. Seemed he wasn't someone to screw around with, either. Other than that, they were led quietly, if disgracefully, through several winding tunnels and corridors, until the path suddenly broke off and the party entered a large room.

The room was dark, but Bella could still see enough to make out the general layout. It almost appeared to be a cave of sorts, with large, painfully sharp stone spikes jutting out of the floor and roof in a nonsensical patter. All around, there were other people, each dressed in the dirty and torn rags shared by the man leading them on,but what drew her eye was one particular person, lounging on a large rock formation shaped vaguely like a throne. He was a large man, with robes of only marginally better repair than his subordinates, and a mane of flaming red hair framing the bone white mask he wore on his was something familiar about him, Bella sensed, but for the life of her she couldn't place what.

"Ah, if it isn't The Silver Shadow and the Shadow of Aincrad. Welcome, both of you to the Court of Shadows!" Again, Bella was struck with a sense of familiarity by the deep, rumbling voice which carried across the stalactite field to them, and again, where she had heard it before remained a mystery. She shook the disorientation away, however, stepping forward with all the grace of an angel.

"Impressive, to be certain, but I prefer more… sophisticated venues. Tell me, why have you brought us here?" Underneath his mask, the obvious leader of Laughing Coffin smiled, before rising to his feet and stalking towards them. Bella narrowed her quicksilver eyes as she studied his movements, a smooth, predator-like gait. This man was powerful, and a warrior, despite how young he appeared to be. She would need to be very careful of him.

"Why,my lovely Bella, I have only sought to bring you home and to your family. Or should I say, Tenshi?" Bella's breath was gone in an instant at the name, one she hadn't heard in over a year. _How? How does he know?_

"Who the fuck are you?" She asked, ice in spilling into her voice. This man knew something that no one in SAO should ever have known, and she once again evaluated him with a quick sweep of her eyes. As she did so, thoughts and images began to swim up from a dark, hidden place within her mind, one she had buried deep on the day she first came to Aincrad. _No, it can't be. Not him, he wouldn't do something like this._

"Have you already forgotten me, my Tenshi? Or perhaps it's the mask. Maybe if you see my face again, it will jog your memory." Bella's breath came faster and faster, her blood boiling as the large, redheaded man reached one hand up slowly towards his mask. With a smooth, hooking motion, the bone-white material came off, and everything inside Bella froze, as a single word escaped her lips with the tiniest breath.

"Adam."

XXX

 **Dum, dum, duuuuuuuuuum!**

 **Okay, enough of that. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and Iwould love to hear what you thought of it. Who is Adam, and how does He know Bella? Why does he keep calling her Tenshi(which is japanese for angel, in case you didn't know)? And who the fuck is that weird dude in black and why is he here(Some of you can probably guess, especially if you've read the story I mentioned last time)? All that and more will be answered within the next couple of chapters, but you can feel free to guess. For now though, don't forget to review, and I will see ya!**


	6. Chapter 6:The Court of Shadows

"Adam?" The word rang through out the vast cavern, a bare whisper turned to roars as it echoed off the stone formations within. Every eye was upon the speaker, a tall, graceful girl with steel gray hair that rippled in the candlelight and eyes of a beautiful quicksilver that stole the breath of all who looked into them. Before her was a man, one infamous throughout Aincrad though none knew his name or face. He was large, rippling with brawny muscles, and his red hair shone like fire as it framed his ruggedly handsome features. If Shadow was completely honest with himself, they painted a beautiful picture, one of exotic contradiction that he would never have expected from the leader of Laughing Coffin and the famous Silver Shadow.

"Yes, Tenshi, it's me." The large man rumbled, and Shadow frowned inwardly. Why was such a large man leader of Laughing Coffin, a guild of assassins, and especially, how did he know BellaLux? His questions went unasked and unanswered as the girl, looking like little more than a slip of a thing next to the man, reached up tentatively to touch the blazing red stubble on Adam's chin.

"But… how are you here? Why Adam?" With an incredibly soft smile, the larger man caught her hand in his, pressing it to his cheek.

"I came for you, Tenshi. Kireki helped patch me in. I came into Aincrad to find you." Shadow didn't see what was funny about the answer; only a madman would willingly join this death-game after all, but for some reason, Bella chuckled at the answer.

"Of course he did. That kid always loved his computers." Suddenly, the girl's eyes sharpened, and from where he was standing, Shadow's own widened. She looked very angry. "Why are we here, Adam? Do you know what Laughing Coffin is?" Shadow could've Adam's face hardened for a second, but before he could be sure it was gone, replaced by a wide grin.

"Of course I know. I created it, after all." It was then that the suspicion Shadow had seen building within Bella, or Tenshi as the large man seemed to call her, burst, and the girl took a subtle step back.

"Created it, Adam? You can't mean that." Unsurprisingly, the man slid forward to match, that unnerving grin still stretched across his face.

"Of course I do, Tenshi. I came here to find you, but I couldn't. So I had to do something to attract your attention." He reached up to caress her cheek in a manner reminiscent of the girl's own actions just a few moments before, but she slapped away the hand.

"So you killed people, Adam? Innocents? I taught you better than that." At her words, Adam's face was suddenly overtaken with fury, and Shadow raised his eyebrows from where he was at. The large red-haired man didn't strike her as he expected, however, instead turning away from the girl as if being scolded.

"You don't know what it was like without you, Tenshi. We couldn't survive, and they… the others wanted to take you to the hospital. I couldn't let them. You know what would have happened if I did. I had no choice, I had to find you." Shadow watched the exchange with awe. Somehow, this young woman had cowed the large, obviously powerful man with only her words. Now, she stepped forward, and with a surprising authority to her, grasped Adam's chin and pulled ti forward, to look her in the eyes.

"What did you do, Adam?" She asked, her voice soft but commanding. For a moment, the creator of Laughing Coffin looked like a frightened child, and Shadow would have chuckled at the thought if he weren't surrounded by killers who would end his life in an instant at the slightest inclination.

"I-I had to, Tenshi. I had no choice. I had to save you, because I love you." It was then that the truth dawned on Shadow. Whoever these others were, likely some kind of gang of friends or family, Adam had killed. That was the only explanation that made sense for this reaction. For whatever reason, this Adam had perceived the hospital as a threat to his Tenshi, and thus had killed those who had attempted to take her there. The true sadness, however, and the thought that made Shadow's blood boil, was that he didn't seem ashamed of his actions. Yes, he was afraid of retribution, obviously, and what Tenshi would think of him, but not ashamed. He fully believed he was right in killing his friends and family, possibly even the person who had allowed him to come into SAO. The thought disgusted Shadow. What sort of monster killed their friends and family without any qualms?

Shadow saw the moment that the exact same realization hit Tenshi, and at first, he thought she would be angry. He expected the young girl to rage and scream, to spit at and scratch Adam and curse him with every name under the sun, punishing the man for his crimes with exactly what he feared; rejection. He was very surprised, then, when she did none of that, and actually pulled the older male into a tight hug, pressing his head to her bosom.

"Oh, Adam, it's alright. I love you too." At those words, A wave of rage flowed through Shadow. How could this woman _forgive_ such a monster? He had ended his own family, willingly slain those he loved and sold his soul just to attract her attention. Her soul truly must be as twisted as his own, if that was truly the case.

"You _forgive_ him? He killed your family! Your loved ones!" Shadow yelled, his hands clenching for stolen blades and grasping nothing but air. Unarmed, all he could do was glare at the woman, who released Adam at his outburst.

"Adam, who is this and why is he here?" The rage in Shadow froze at the sound of her voice, icy fear replacing it to course through his veins. It was a thing made of ice and shadow, cold as winter and darker than night. He shuddered as she stepped towards him, and no longer did Tenshi appear to be a girl, small and slight. Shadow was now faced with a queen, regal and fierce, with a deadly glint to her quicksilver eyes which locked onto his own blazing red ones. She stalked towards him, each step a silent glide across the stone floor until she was standing before him, her gaze sliding down his form like silk.

"His name is Shadow, Tenshi. He's been hunting our new family for months now. I brought him for you, an offering for this glorious occasion." Tenshi's eyes flicked back up to Shadow's from where they had lingered upon his abdomen, chiseled hard by long days of fighting in the field, and without a doubt the young mercenary knew exactly what Adam meant. _He's giving me to her to kill, like some sort of toy_ , he thought, disgusted as a small, sly smile crossed the woman's face.

"You always get me the nicest gifts, Adam. But it would be boring to just kill him." With a flick of her chin, two of the Laughing Coffin members who had been waiting in the eaves, watching the proceedings, stepped forwards, her instant authority going unquestioned as they handed her weapons Shadow recognized as his own. With a move that spoke of utter contempt, Tenshi threw the bundle of equipment at Shadow's feet before claiming her own from the second attendant. It was the work of an instant to add them to her inventory, and the same was true for Shadow, who wasted no time in collecting them. Tenshi may think she could kill him, but she would be in for a surprise.

With their weapons and armor once again in place, Tenshi backed up a few steps and drew the two silver daggers resting on her thighs, a feral grin on her face. Shadow drew his own weapon, smirking as he gripped Blood Rose's handle. Those daggers looked fancy, certainly, but they were nothing compared to an S-class item, and the blood red scythe with a black grip was exactly that. Before they could move towards one another, however, Adam suddenly stepped between them.

"Wait. Tenshi, another gift, if you will. Something to make your first dance in the Court of Shadows more… memorable." With a dramatic flourish, the large man handed his new ally two daggers, and Shadow's eyes widened at the sight of them. One was pure white, and looked almost like it was crafted out of light itself, while the other was the opposite, a shard of darkness that seemed to suck in the color of the very air around it.

"Hikari and Yami," Tenshi murmured as the item information screen appeared in front of her, before she swiped it away. "How appropriate." WIth a nod, Adam stepped back, and suddenly the air between Shadow and Tenshi was filled with tension. Their eyes met, and for several seconds, all they did was stare. Shadow could make nothing out of the quicksilver orbs across from him, and his own were just as hard, anger radiating from every pore of his body. This woman was just as bad of a monster as the LC leader, to accept such crimes. But perhaps it was just as well that it would fall to him to defeat her. After all, it took a monster to defeat a monster, and Shadow had his own share of darkness.

When they moved, it was without warning. One instant they were stock-still, glaring at each other from across the field of spikes, and the next the two Shadows flew towards each other, their blades clashing in the still air. After the first strike, Shadow was already spinning around, long practice and martial training allowing him to know exactly how and where to move. With ungodly speed, he brought his scythe across, hoping to end this fight with a single, devastating blow. It was not to be, however, as Tenshi slid underneath the curved blade, her hair ruffling in the air as it passed not an inch overhead. Popping up like a spring, the girl slid one step forward, her other foot lashing out to kick Shadow in the chest.

He flew back, winded from the sudden blow, but a single kick wasn't nearly enough to defeat a trained warrior such as Shadow, and he caught himself on a nearby spike. With a small grunt, he threw himself back at the girl, gritting his teeth as once again she slid around the blade like water, lashing out with a devastating backhand and sending him flying once again. He rolled when he landed, before rising in an instant and throwing himself back at Tenshi, his rage growing with every time he failed to land a blow.

They danced around the Court, and with every passing second Shadow grew more and more desperate. He had caught her off guard a few times, but for each he only had a glancing blow to show for it. Tenshi was like water and shadow, flowing around his blades as if she weren't even there, stepping just out of his strike zone as if to taunt him. She was unpredictable too. Every strike she made, every slash and attack that he only barely managed to block, only just dodged, came from a new angle. Every one of his instincts, beaten into him through long hours and days of training, demanded he block here, strike there, only for her to appear somewhere else entirely. It was extremely frustrating, and Shadow was growing desperate as his health bar fell further and further, starting to edge into the red.

Finally, the warrior caught a break, some sixth sense pinging as the girl disappeared around a stone spike. At first, he moved to block where she should have reappeared from, but something stopped him, and he instead turned his blade upwards. Surprisingly, she appeared there, flipping over the five foot rock as if it were a mere pebble in her path, and her blades slammed down onto his, sending them both sprawling to the ground. For a few, desperate moments, they struggled, wrestling for the top position, until finally Shadow's superior strength stat put him on top, Tenshi's daggers just barely holding his scythe away from her throat.

He looked into her eyes then, all his anger ready to spit into her face and declare victory over the evil bitch, only for him to be brought up short by what he saw. Gone was the queen of shadow and ice, the dark, seductive woman who had eyed him like a piece of meat, and in its place were innumerable unsheddable tears. The quicksilver eyes, previously hard and frozen with a raw hatred and evil, were now like liquid, softened by an immeasurable sadness.

"Find Kirito." The voice was little more than a whisper on the wind, but it rang through Shadow's mind like a bell, so desperate and broken it stole his breath. "Find the Black Swordsman, and warn him. Even the dead cast Shadows." He stared, unable to comprehend what he was seeing and hearing, until finally it clicked in his mind. She had been _faking_. The forgiveness, the love she offered to the friend that had betrayed her family and slaughtered innocents, was a _lie._ She knew that turning on him then, in front of all his loyal followers, would have been a death sentence. And if she died, so would Shadow, and there would be no one to know the truth.

"Why?" Shadow croaked, his voice heavy and hoarse from the exertion. To the others, the ones watching with barely contained glee, they would think he was asking why she had turned on him, why she had proven to be just as twisted and evil as them. For Tenshi and Shadow, however, it held far more weight than meaningless anger and betrayal. _Why sacrifice yourself? Why sell your soul to the devil on the meager hope that you might escape one day, or that I might be able to fix this? Why trust_ me, _A complete stranger?_ She smiled up at him, a broken angel, and answered with the only answer she could.

"Because I _can_." With a lightning fast action, her knee shot up from under him to slam into his groin, toppling Shadow over. Before the warrior could even register what had just happened, Tenshi spun, landing on top of him and pressing her new twin daggers to his throat. For a moment, they both froze there, Shadow staring up at her in surprise, and Tenshi looking back with apologetic eyes. Then the sound of clapping came, and they broke their stare to look at Adam, who had approached from behind.

"Excellent, Tenshi, just as I knew you could. Now… kill him." The man smiled, and Shadow's eyes flashed back to Tenshi- no, Bella's- eyes. She stared back at him, her hood masking the pain he could now see there from her family's murderer, and for just a moment unease swept through him. Then she spoke.

"No. I won't." Shadow's breath caught. What was she doing? Before he could protest however, Adam frowned, before stepping forward to loom over the two.

"What was that?" He rumbled, and Bella smiled up at him.

"You heard me, I won't kill him." She glanced towards Shadow, and the smile turned into a smirk. "A shamed and defeated enemy is better than a dead one." Shadow's eyes widened minutely at the words. _So that's her plan. Clever._ "Let him go. If he's dead, he can't appreciate the lesson he's learned. Let him live with the knowledge that whatever his crusade was, he failed. And if he tries to start again, well…" Her eyes flashed, and again Shadow was faced with the deadly predator which had hunted him through the stone spikes, a queen of shadows in all her glory. "I won't be merciful next time."

Adam laughed, and suddenly the tension which had filled the air was broken. "Oh, I like it. So deliciously cruel." With a gesture, one of the other members of Laughing Coffin, who now sported a wide grin since Shadow had been defeated, stepped forward and picked him up off the floor even as Bella stepped towards Adam and wrapped herself around his arm. Shadow couldn't hear what it was she whispered into his ear, but from the wide grin that cracked the despicable man's face, he could guess. As he was handed a blindfold, Shadow tried desperately to catch Bella's eye. He worried, as his hands reached up to wrap the dirty brown cloth around his eyes, that he would fail, but then, just before the darkness fell, he caught a glimpse of her glancing towards him. All he saw was just a hint of steely quicksilver, nothing to prove that what he had seen there, lying on top of the woman with a blade to her throat, was true, but then her last words came back to him, the answer to his question.

 _Because I can._ She hadn't meant it a flippant answer, claiming she had taken what actions she did on a whim. No, the truth went far deeper than that. The queen of shadows, the primal predator hungry for his blood, the twisted, vicious woman that would condemn violence and death… all of that was there, within reach for her. She played the role of Adam's queen, his Tenshi, because deep within herself, she knew she _could_ , because if her life had turned out even slightly differently, she _would_ be that person. She was both capable and in such a position to do so, and the ease with which she had shifted into Tenshi sent shivers down Shadow's spine as he was led blindly out of the Laughing Coffin fortress. Yes, she was more than capable of being that person, he knew, but what pained him the most was that she _wasn't._ Whatever the reason, the woman he had looked down on as he tried desperately to remove her head from her shoulders, was not a monster. He had looked into those currents of quicksilver, and all he saw was a desperate need for Shadow to do as she asked.

 _Find Kirito. Find the Black Swordsman and warn him. Even the dead cast Shadows._ Shadow had no idea what was so important about that message, but as he felt fresh air waft over him, a stark contrast to the stale cavern air he had slowly been growing accustomed to, he knew that he would deliver it no matter what. A woman whose kindness and care for those she had loved, whose pain and sacrifice shocked him to the core, had made only a single request of him, and he'd be damned if he didn't fulfill it. After all, one could never hide from their Shadow.

XXX

 **Okay, so this is unusual. I know, I've already updated this story once already today, but seriously, I just wasn't done with that shit. This chapter forced me to finish it, and if I'm completely honest, I might just have another in me as well.**

 **Anyways, so something I wanted to announce. Originally, I had planned on Bella's theme song being Angel With a Shotgun, but recently I have found a new song. So from now on, Bella's theme song is the nightcored version of 'Silver Lining'. As for the battle, I think the theme song should totally be the same as it was in Arctic01's story The Tri-Blade Alliance, 'Let it Burn'. That's where Shadow comes from, by the way, so go give his story a look. So that should be it for now, and as always, feel free to Review or PM me with anything you have questions for, and I shall see ya!**


	7. Chapter 7: Calm Before the Storm

Kirito stared at the cup of coffee gripped tightly in his hand, shaking slightly as he grew more and more worried. True, the beverage was virtual, but SAO had a caffeine system in place to provide small shocks of energy to a player's brain, originally designed for those late-night gamers who needed something to take the edge off their lack of dedicated sleep. Kirito, however, had taken solace in the warm, bitter drink for a wholly different reason; Bella, his best friend and lone companion through this death game, was missing.

Normally, the young woman would remain out of sight often, going about her business in the shadows or just generally watching over Kirito, but it was almost unprecedented for her to spend an entire day without appearing at Kirito's side at least once, and never without letting him know when and how. Even then, she would invariably show up at whatever inn the swordsman chose for the night, typically by way of climbing in through the window, much to his long-suffering chagrin. It had been three days the last time that happened.

Kirito supposed it started with the minor adventure he had gone on with Asuna the Lightning Flash, vice-commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath. They sorted out the "murder in a safe zone" mystery eventually, although Kirito was surprised when Bella didn't step in to offer even a little bit of advice as she was wont to do, but he figured she must have been busy with something else. Now, however, after three long days of slowly growing worry and concern as more and more hours passed without word, Kirito was far less certain.

At the sound of a shifting chair, Kirito glanced up from his coffee to see a man he didn't recognize sitting down across from him. Leaning back in surprise, Kirito carefully released his grip on the coffee cup and allowed his hand to drift closer to his sword. They were in a safe zone, sittiing at one of the open air cafes around Algade, but Bella had driven the knowledge into Kirito that nowhere was safe from danger, no matter how small it may be.

"Can i help you with something?" The raven-haired boy asked, his voice low and threatening as he took in the newcomer. The man was dressed like a living shadow, black on black on black, and his face was hidden by an even darker hood. In fact, the only distinctive features Kirito could make out were glowing red eyes peering out from under the hood, and a pitch black sword strapped across his back, with a distinctive white outline.

"Are you Kirito, the Black Swordsman?" The voice was even and measured, but still it brought a chill to the teenager's spine as it drifted through the air towards him. Only once before had he ever heard something so dark and dangerous, immediately after fighting Illfang, and never again did he wish to repeat the experience.

"I might be. Who's asking?" Kirito hedged, every lesson of caution Bella had taught him pounded into his head. The girl was a master of disguise and acting, and had taken great pleasure in sneaking up on him whether under a false face or from the shadows in order to liven up the long months of progressing through SAO. As such, the teen's danger sense had slowly become _very_ highly developed, and right now every single bell he had was going off. It didn't help when the strange man laughed, a cold, hard thing that reminded Kirito of cracking glass.

"My name's not important, but you can call me Shadow, if necessary. Tell me, do you know a girl named Tenshi? She may also go by BellaLux." Kirito's blood froze at the names, but he fought to keep his face in a carefully neutral expression. It was surprising enough that this man would know Bella's username, since she rarely gave it out except to those she trusted or was forced to work in close proximity with, but it was the first that truly terrified him. After the Black Cats died, they had shared their real life names, with the promise that were one of them to die while the other survived, they would find the family of the fallen and tell them how and why. Even then, it was only after a great deal of coaxing and pleading that Kirito managed to get Bella to part with her real name, Ankokou Tenshi. So the question was, why did this man not only know her by that name, but even better than her username?

"She's a friend." Kirito finally said, after scrutinizing Shadow for several moments. The man narrowed his eyes, but then nodded, before waving down a nearby waitress. After placing his order and dismissing the NPC, he turned back to Kirito, leaning forward slightly as he spoke.

"Ten-Bella, is in danger. She's been taken by Laughing Coffin." Kirito was glad he had set down his coffee, as otherwise it would have crashed to the floor at the murder guild's name. Laughing Coffin? That made no sense.

"LC doesn't take prisoners." He said shortly, cutting a glare at Shadow. The man, for his part, merely shrugged, apparently unconcerned by this fact.

"No, but they do take recruits." For a moment, Kirito stared at the man, not quite comprehending his words, before, with a rush of blood in his ears, anger swept through the teen.

"You're joking." There couldn't be any other explanation for this guy to be telling him such stupid things. Bella was far too gentle, and dare he say it, _kind,_ to have joined a murder guild of all things. She was more likely to slaughter them all in their sleep, for daring to harm innocents. Kirito wouldn't believe she would ever willingly join something as evil as that. "Bella's too good to even consider joining Laughing Coffin." He said, his voice cold. Surprisingly, Shadow smirked in response.

"Of _course_ , that would explain why she was so keen to slit my throat. How silly of me."

"This isn't a joke." Kirito snapped, and Shadow, seeing the boy's temper flaring, nodded, backing off.

"I apologize, that was in poor taste. In all seriousness, I believe you. In fact, Bella gave me a message for you."

"What is it?" Kirito asked, trying not to show the palpable relief he was feeling. Shadow agreed? Then what was this all about?

"'Even the dead cast Shadows.' Those were her exact words." For a moment, all was silent as Kirito regarded the man curiously, leaning back in his chair with a raised eyebrow, a trick he had learned from Bella herself. Memories of a long-gone lesson flashed through his mind, and the teenager smiled slightly. _Even the dead cast Shadows, huh? Bella you clever girl._ If he was right, Bella may have just done something incredibly foolish, but also with the possibility of ending one of the major threats within Aincrad. As the pieces came together, Kirito's smiled stretched even wider, and he rested his arms on the table, before addressing Shadow with a hard stare.

"Tell me everything."

XXX

Asuna observed the two boys with narrowed eyes as they stalked through the halls of Grandzat, marveling at the picture they painted. It was an interesting parallel, black set against black, but at the same time, those who knew the two, or at least had some experience in reading people, could see the vast contrast between them. Kirito, who Asnua knew personally, was a kind, if a bit daft, young man, with a heart too soft and bright for the cruelties and responsibilities their digital world heaped upon him. He had darkness hidden within, yes, and a pain she doubted anyone but his normally ever-present Shadow could understand fully, but somehow he had managed to push through that to become one of the guiding lights of SAO.

Beside Kirito, however, was a man Asuna didn't recognize, but still one who gave her shivers as she observed him. Shadow, as he had claimed to be called, actually reminded Asuna of Bella a bit, as absurd as the thought was. He was living darkness, with a depth of pain and loss too deep to comprehend, but there was some good in him, a streak of light that was all which kept Asuna from drawing her blade on him and denying the man entry to her guild's fortress. He wasn't as benevolent as the Silver Shadow, but however dark his purpose, Asuna suspected there was a decent heart beneath it all.

Even more than their appearance and bearing, however, was the similarities and differences between their eyes. Kirito's burned with a bright fire of determination, while Shadow's were dark and icy, promising death to all who opposed him. As they reached the grand doors which opened into Grandzat's conference room, which typically held the KBO's council meetings, she wondered why that was, and just what the two were doing together. Putting the thoughts out of her mind, however, Asuna pushed open the doors, leading the two men forwards.

Inside, only one of the room's usual occupants was present, despite it being filled nearly to the brim. On Kirito's-and by extension the Moonlit Black Cat's- request, all the heads of front line guilds were present, and a few more notable players not distinctly aligned with any singular guild. All jumped at the sound of their entrance, before zeroing in on the man himself, each highly interested in why exactly the meeting had been called in the first place.

"Yo, Kirito! Good to see ya man, but where's your lady friend? Bella finally skip out on ya?" Kirito brightened as he heard Klein's friendly greeting, smiling at the redhead as they grasped forearms in their traditional greeting.

"Hey Klein, still as scruffy as ever, huh? And Bella is actually the reason we're here." The leader of Furinkazan frowned slightly at the evasive answer, but after a moment of debate shook his head and dismissed any question he might have asked. He would get answers soon enough.

"Ahh, Kirito. Welcome to the home of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Are you ready to explain why you have called us all together today?" The Black Swordsmen glanced towards Heathcliff, guildmaster of the KBO, and his mood soured visibly. The older man had always given him a bad vibe, and Bella an even worse one. Sure, he was creator and leader for what was widely recognized as the strongest guild in existence at the moment, but he was just a bit _too_ friendly.

"I am, Heathcliff, but first I should introduce a recent acquaintance of mine. This is Shadow." Kirito waved towards the man by his side, who nodded respectfully to the assembled crowd, before continuing. "He's the one who provided the information which made me call you all here today. To put it simply, We've found Laughing Coffin's base, and have information on their leader." Unsurprisingly, there was a collective round of gasps at his words, and suddenly the room was filled with dozens of voices, all vying for dominance, until a loud crash rang out. All eyes turned to stare at the leader of the KBO, whose fist was now resting heavily upon the large oak table in the center of the room.

"Thank you." He said, sweeping the room with his cold grey eyes until they landed once more upon Kirito. "Are you certain of the validity of this information?" For a second, Kirito met his gaze, then nodded slowly.

"I am." Again, the murmurs started, although they kept it down to just a low muttering, until finally, the leader of one of the smaller guilds spoke up.

"How did you find this information? Laughing Coffin has been like a ghost haunting us since almost the beginning of SAO. Every time someone thinks they have them, they disappear." Kirito turned an appraising eye to the speaker, a slightly older man, with kind blue eyes and long blonde hair.

"You all know who I am, right?" the entire assembly nodded, fully aware of the legend of the Black Swordsman. "Then where do you think my usual companion is right now?" Kirito could see exactly when the realization crashed over them like a wave, and several people cursed quietly.

"But Bella would never join Laughing Coffin!" Klein's voice rang out over the group, the leader of Fuurinkazan being the most well-versed in the ways of the Silver Shadow. Sadly, or perhaps stupidly, several others shouted him down, convinced that of course the Silver Shadow, who many had developed a great mistrust of over the course of SAO's history, would betray them. She had always walked in shadows and never made an effort to hide that there was blood on her hands. Soon enough, the entire room was filled with shouts once again, those who were less familiar with Bella crying out for her blood while the Beater's friends did their best to counter them. NOt even Heathcliff, banging so hard on the table Kirito was afraid it might break under his fist, could bring them to order.

"Enough." The single word was spoken quietly, little more than an aggravated whisper, but somehow it cut through the rabble and clamor, freezing the entire room like ice. All eyes shot to the speaker, Shadow leaning calmly against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and red eyes glowing balefully at the gathering. "I know not what preconceptions any of you may have about T-BellaLux. I, myself, have only barely met her. I _was,_ however, there when she was brought before the Court of Shadows in Laughing Coffin's fortress." Shadow swept his gaze over the crowd daring them to speak once again, but not a single whisper escaped, as each was staring at him with amazement and perhaps even a little bit of fear. Satisfied that he would not be interrupted, he continued.

"The leader of LC is a man named Adam, who once knew Bella IRL. He had his men capture her and bring her to him, in the hopes of coercing the Shadow into joining his side. But he made one fatal mistake. He let me live." Again, his eyes swept the hall, until a small voice spoke up from the back, prompting Shadow to face Asuna

"Why?" Shadow grinned at the question, a dangerous, feral thing that made several of the gathered shiver.

"Because Bella asked him to. She had a message for me to carry." Shadow nodded to Kirito, who stepped forward and brought up his menu, surprising everybody else.

"Bella gave Shadow words I remembered from an old hunting lesson she taught me while we were practicing stealth a few months ago. 'Even the dead cast shadows.'It's supposed to mean that a shadow is the one thing you can't hide, no matter how skilled you are. All you need to do is find somebody's shadow, and you can follow it to them. And right now, I know exactly where LC's Shadow is." After a few deft manipulations of his menu, Kirito threw up a map into the center of the room, with a single, glowing red dot on it.

"The friend tracker," Asuna breathed from the corner, and Kirito smiled at her.

"Exactly. Bella hasn't erased her friend's list, allowing us to easily track her to LAughing Coffin's base."

"How do we know the Silver Shadow hasn't just forgotten, and you're covering for her? Or better yet, she could be leading us into a trap!" Kirito scowled at the blonde man who had spoken up again, but before he could say anything, SHadow cut him off.

"Because Adam killed her entire family before hacking his way into the game to find her." He stated bluntly, shrugging at the aghast expressions on everyone's faces. "Would you side with the guy who slaughtered your entire family for some messed up obsession?" It took several moments, but finally the man managed to answer, stuttering his response.

"A-and he actually believed her when she joined him?" Shadow shrugged again, his expression bored.

"The guy's insane. Not to mention, he had a hot chick rubbing up on him at the time. I wouldn't be surprised that he wasn't thinking clearly." Suddenly, half the room was stammering and turning red, including Kirito, but before anyone could reprimand the mercenary for his crude humor, a high tinkling laugh rang out from the shadows.

"I can attest to that. Bella has a way of destroying pretty much any higher brain functions when she wants to." Shadow raised an eyebrow at the small, mousy form cloaked in brown, but didn't deign to comment. Bella had never struck him as _that_ sort of person, but hey, who was he to judge?

After a few moments to allow the gathering to regain their senses, the man spoke up once again, which Shadow found to be quite annoying. Seriously, the guy was starting to get on his nerves. "Alright, fine. But what do you people want us to do with this information? It's not like we can just storm their base and kill them all!"

"And why not?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow, unsurprised when the man sputtered at him.

"B-because that would make us no better than them! I don't know about you, but I don't want blood on my hands." At his words. Several of the group muttered in ascent, and Shadow's blood boiled. How could they all be so stupid? DId they not know what was at stake? Just as it looked like several people were right on the edge of leaving, the mercenary took a deep breath and closed his eyes. _Calm, Shadow. If they don't understand, then you'll just have to make them._ WIth that thought in mind, he rose from his slouched position against the wall and stepped up to the table, drawing his sword and slamming it down with a loud thunk. Instantly, all attention was drawn back to him, and once again his baleful red eyes swept the room, but this time they lingered on each and every person they passed.

"There is a saying I once heard. 'At the end of the day, blood will always be spilled. ALl we can do is decide whether it be innocent or not.' Right now, you have a choice. You can walk out that door, forgetting this day ever happened, and leave Laughing Coffin to their own devices. But if you do, then tomorrow, or the next day, when one of their members kills someone, it will be because _you_ didn't stop them. That death will be on your head, and their blood staining your hands. Sometimes, inaction is even worse than committing a crime yourself. So go ahead and leave, living your nice innocent life with your innocent little hands. I'll be here, fighting for something that _matters_." For a moment, the man stared at him, fear and awe mixing in equal measure within his eyes, until slowly, hesitantly, he reached up to the sword strapped across his back. Then, with a jerk, he drew the blade, steel gleaming darkly in the setting sun behind him, and stabbed it into the table. Directly across from Shadow's.

"My sword and my guild are yours then. Use them well."

XXX

 **Alright, so this is finally up, and things are starting to get rolling. Next chapter we'll get to see the attack on Laughing Coffin, whoo! Also, I wanted to apologize for this taking a bit longer than planned, I was caught up with a lot of work to graduate early, so that kinda distracted me a lot. And for one last thing, I was asked by the original creator and owner of Shadow's character, Arctic01 to mention that his theme song is the nightcore version of 'Wrong Side of Heaven". Don't forget to go show that guy some love, yeah?**

 **Anyways, that should be everything for now, so I'll just let you guys go, and I'll see ya later!**


	8. Chapter 8: Tears of Blood

The air was chill, but but she made no move to step away from the wide window, even as her silken nightgown, little more than a thin weaving of white lace, fluttered in the breeze. She sat before the opening, her legs pulled up onto the stone ledge as she hugged them close to her chest. No, the young woman was perfectly stoic as she bathed in moonlight, only her eyes, glimmering with an unfathomable sadness, giving any sign that she wasn't carved from the same stone she sat upon. In that moment, she appeared as an angel, lamenting the loss of human innocence as she stared out at the night sky, the facsimile of stars glittering against the was some accuracy to such an assessment, too.

Bella sighed quietly as she shifted, turning her head slightly to see the large, naked man lying spread out on the bed just to the side, his backside protected from the night air by nothing more than a sheet strewn hapharzadly over him. Hatred roared through her veins at the sight, a blazing fire that set her blood boiling, but she refused to allow such an emotion to appear on her face, ever wary of hidden observers. Instead, she allowed a small, lovely smile to grace her lips, even as inwardly she cringed at the action. She hated everything about him, from his wild mane of flaming red hair to the tips of his toes, with a burning passion. As her eyes trailed up and down his body, regretting that such a beautiful form had to house such an ugly soul, her thoughts whirled back to how she had ended up in this place, warming the bed of such a monster.

XXX

 _Bella's steps were soft as she stalked the dark streets, uncaring of her destination. They were comforting to her, the shadows, she was restless that night. When she came to the opening of an alley, no different than the hundreds of others within the city, she paused, her ears pricked as she heard a foreign noise, like the whimpering of a beaten dog. Her gaze slid to the side, piercing the depths of the shadowed passage._

 _The sight that met her eyes was not a particularly uncommon one in the seedy underbelly of Japan's cities, but as her gaze rolled over the dirty, trash-strewn alley to rest upon its occupants, she felt something ignite within her core. There were children, three of them from what she could see, cowering amongst the filth, even as several larger boys towered over them, malicious grns upon each of their faces as they smacked various weapons into their palms._

 _Bella was moving even before she gave her body the command, gliding silently over the ground. That mattered little, however, as she let out a low whistle, attracting every eye in the small passage. "Oh booooys! What's going on down here?" She cooed the words at them, and already there was lust in their eyes as the older children ran their gazes over her. Bella was young, to be sure, but already her body was developing well, and the uniquely exotic features of her sharp european features easily caught the eye of almost any man she came into contact with. These boys, just entering puberty from the looks of it, didn't stand a chance as she offered them a coy smile, cocking her hips as she did so._

" _Nothing of importance." Replied the largest of the boys, sending a cursory glance back to the children they had just been surrounding, before his eyes returned hungrily to Bella's. A spike of pain drove through her heart as she followed his gaze to look upon the bruised and battered forms, but long practice kept the expression off her face as she sidled closer._

" _Then perhaps you could help me?" She breathed into the quiet air, suddenly only a few inches from the boy. "I'm a bit lost." As he looked down at her in surprise, she bit her lips cutely, the perfect image of a confused little girl with no clue about what she had just walked into. Unsurprisingly, Bella felt his hands land heavily upon her arms just a moment later, and the boy offered her what he probably thought was a charming smile._

" _Of course. I'd be happy to show a little lady like you a good time." The grip tightened, and Bella allowed her breath to catch, as if surprised, before flushing slightly. She glanced down for a moment, feigning surprise and embarrassment at the undertone of his offer, before returning her eyes up to his. She took a step forward then, until she was just shy of pressing herself up against him, and carefully laid a hand on his chest, ignoring the snickers and wolf-whistles of the boy's friends behind them. It was exactly what she wanted, all of their attention focused solely on her, the lost little lamb which had stumbled into their den of wolves._

" _Are you sure? I would hate to intrude?" She simpered at the boy, batting her eyelashes at him even as internally she gagged. This close she could see just how unattractive he was, with dirty teeth and a face ravaged by acne. Normally she wasn't one to judge a person on their looks, but every angle of this man's features, every glimmer of light in his eyes, held a hard, cruel edge to it that spoke of one who enjoyed causing pain. Even if she hadn't seen him harassing the children, the oldest of which couldn't have been older than ten, he was the type of person she would steer clear of on the street._

" _Don't worry about it, Baby, I'll keep you safe." He said, pulling Bella even as his hands started to snake around to her back and drift downwards. Bella forced herself not to shudder, but it was a hard thing, and as she trailed her own hand downwards, coming to rest on his belt, a real smile graced her lips._

" _Baby, huh?" She asked, before her lips curled up and her quicksilver eyes suddenly seemed to glow with malice that hadn't been present just a second before. Faster than the boy could react, her hand curled around the hilt of the dagger he kept tucked into his waistband, a long and wicked thing that glinted dully in the miniscule amount of light seeping in into the alleyway from a nearby streetlamp. With a jerk, she pulled it out, until her arm made a quick reversal, and plunged the sharp blade deep into his stomach. "I don't think I like that nickname."_

 _The boy screamed as he his own blade bit deep into his flesh, and satisfaction swept through Bella as he fell to the ground, clutching at the crimson wound. Cruelty begetted cruelty, and while she took no pleasure from the actual pain she had caused, he had deserved far worse. She knew the glint in his eyes, and that vicious smile he had worn as his gaze ran over her form. He was scum, part of the worst dregs of society, and removed such a stain on the earth was an act she was always happy to commit, even if it marked her own hands in blood. Someone had to, after all, and who better to abscond with darkness than a shadow Herself?_

 _Without remorse, the young girl pulled the blade out of her victim's stomach and looked up at his friends, her smile cold as the arctic. For a moment, they stared at her in fear and horror, shocked by the act she had just committed. She must have looked terrifying in the moment, with blood from the wound she had inflicted spurted all over her front, and as she took a slow, languid step forward, they broke, turning tail and running, their screams echoing in the dark night. For just a moment, Bella watched them go, her eyes glittering with righteous fury at their cowardice, and she contemplated hunting them down. They were just as guilty as the boy at her feet after all, and the disgust she had felt at their actions was still roiling within her stomach. She was stopped, however, by the sensation of something thumping into her legs._

 _Glancing down, Bella was shocked to see one of the children she the gang had been terrorising clinging to her legs, a grimy head of red hair all she could make out of his features as the little boy pressed himself closer. A moment later, the child was joined by the other two, one of brown and the lone girl with black, and for a moment, Bella was speechless. What was this for?_

 _Slowly, so as not to seem threatening, Bella peeled them away for her legs, smiling gently as she did so. When she could finally see their faces, she crouched down, putting herself on their level. "Hey there little ones," She said softly, brushing the hair out of the closest one's eyes, a difficult task with how much of the red mane there was. Obviously they were like her, street-rats with no one and nothing to look after them. "Those guys didn't hurt you, did they?" The children shook their heads, and Bella's kind smile deepened. She could see the bruises they wore, but it appeared these children wore hardened by a life in the shadows. It was terribly saddening, but for some reason, she felt a hint of pride shoot through her at the thought. Not many children their age could take such a beating without crying, and even less could do so without complaining._

" _We-we're f-fine." The redhead said in a voice that crackled like broken glass, and the other children nodded. Bella's smile became tinged with sadness at the sound of it; obviously he hadn't had much of a chance to use it properly, and his pronunciation of the words wasn't very good, even for a child of his age. She didn't mention it, however, seeing the slightest hint of determination in each of their eyes, and so she merely nodded. It would be an insult to call them out on such faults, especially when they were trying so hard to put up a good front after whatever the gang had done to them, and any other hardships they may have suffered in their life._

 _Smiling softly again, Bella stood, looking back towards the direction that the gang had disappeared down. They would have a good head-start, but she was confident in her abilities to track down at least a few of the bastards down. Every one she dealt with would be another danger off the streets, and would make it less likely that these children were attacked again, even if such a thing only occurred out of some misplaced desire for revenge. Before she could take more than a single step in that direction, however, she was stopped yet again, this time by a tiny hand grabbing hold of her own. She looked back to see three pleading faces, each breaking her heart just a little bit more._

" _Don't go." The little voice was so full of pain and desire, that for a moment, Bella couldn't breathe from the weight of it. She met each of their eyes, clouded over but still burning brightly as they met hers with determination, and before she knew what she was doing, the young girl had dropped to her knees and pulled all three of the children into her arms, wincing slightly as she felt their emaciated forms. Holding them, Bella felt a strange sensation go through her, one she had never felt before. She felt… responsible._

XXX

With a sharp breath, Bella closed her eyes against the images which assaulted her mind. Dozens of faces, as familiar as her own, flashed behind her eyes, and for a moment, the false smile she wore slipped back into a stony mask of indifference. That had been the start of a period of her life she had never expected to have, and before long those three little children had grown into a handful, and then a dozen, and then two dozen. And now they were all dead, their blood spilled in her name and by the man laying in that bed, who she had once trusted above all others. He had been one of the first, and now he was the last. She shuddered as agony tore through her at the thought. Oh, how foolish she had been, not to see the madness lurking behind his eyes, the cruelty she ignored in the face of his supposed innocence, fabricated due to his age and the circumstances she had found him in.

Bella was drawn from her thoughts by a sudden _ping_ breaking the silence of the room with a harsh clarity. Her mouth turning downwards into a frown, she swiftly pulled up her menu. There, in a small grey box which she deleted a few seconds later, were two words, which flooded her with relief and hope. For nearly a week, she had stayed in this hellhole, servicing Adam's every whim and desire. Now, glancing over to the man as he rolled over in his sleep, a genuine smile crossed her lips. _Two minutes._

Rising from her seat, Bella silently summoned her two new daggers into her hands, the white and black blades glinting in the moonlight. Like a ghost, she drifted across the room until she was directly beside the bed, and with a whisper of movement, leaned down to place the darker of the two weapons, Hikari, across Adam's throat. As expected, his eyes fluttered open, and she smiled upon seeing those two muddy brown orbs, far too bright for him having been asleep just a few moments before.

"Are you going to kill me Tenshi?" He asked in a small voice, reminiscent of the first time she had heard him speak, and Bella's grip tightened on the dagger's grip. He was scared, she knew, but there was still a hint of steel to his voice, anger to match the fear.

"Dead men don't speak, Adam." She replied, pressing the blade just tighter against his flesh, but she didn't break the skin as his face morphed into something ugly, the true twistedness of his soul breaking free in the face of death. He had been expecting this, and now he showed it as his voice turned to a hiss, and he glared in betrayal.

"Do you think you're better than me Tenshi, is that it? I'm not the only one who's spilled blood." At his words Bella's smile died, and her eyes hardened into molten silver. She leaned downwards, until her lips brushed against his ear with an intimacy utterly familiar after the last week, but this time when she whispered to him, there was no softness in her voice, no false love to soothe his childish ego. Instead, her words were like a winter wind, sharp and cold as they cut deep into Adam's mind.

"This isn't a question of _morality,_ Adam. We both have blood on our hands, and we're both killers. But you harmed those I care for, and in _my name._ _That_ is a crime I can _never_ forgive."With a jerk, she pressed the blade forward, slicing down until it thunked deep into the mattress below. By the time the blue shards that were all which marked the act, she was gone, nothing more than a shadow in the moonlight.

XXX

Breathing hard, Shadow ducked under his opponent's blade, before kicking out a booted foot to slam into the assassin's stomach. The blow wasn't particularly harmful, and he wouldn't even feel pain with the dampeners engaged, but it did at least get the monster away from Shadow and give him some breathing room. For just a moment, the warrior allowed his attention to flicker away from the opponent before him, studying his surroundings.

The Court of Shadows was exactly as he remembered it, down to the stone spikes littering its ground floors. Now, however, it was no longer silent, with only the scuffling of rats to give it life, but instead the din of battle rung through the air, battering his ears. All around them, the alliance of frontline guilds engaged Laughing Coffin in brutal melee. The murder guild had been given a single chance to surrender, something Shadow had disagreed with but begrudgingly allowed, and when they predictably turned it down, believing themselves safe within their underground fortress, all those who had come to see justice done swarmed through the entrance Shadow had managed to retrace his path back to. Now the battle had turned into a brutal bloodbath, and Shadow wasn't sure which side was winning. Even the ground beneath their feet was littered with shards of light, evidence that the death toll was likely quite high.

As Shadow's enemy finally recovered and the mercenary was forced to block his next blow, something caught his attention behind the man. Not twenty feet away, he could see Kirito struggling against two enemies, just barely holding them off. As a third appeared behind the Black Swordsman, Shadow opened his mouth to shout out a warning. Before he could, however, the third man froze, an expression of shock and pain crossing his face, as two twin dagger blades burst from his chest, the black and white metal gleaming in the torchlight. Shadow knew those weapons.

Almost absentmindedly, the mercenary slapped aside a strike his enemy tried to make as he was distracted, and Shadow growled as his attention was torn away from the sight. In a move he remembered from the last time he had fought in this place, Shadow didn't pause from the force of the blow, but threw himself forward into the gape he had created by pushing his opponent's sword away. HIs own sword came sweeping back in at the same time, and before the enemy could react to this sudden change in tactics, Shadow's blade tore through the guy's neck, cleanly removing his head from his shoulders. The mercenary didn't wait to watch his body burst into light, however, his eyes instantly finding the battle he had previously been focused on before. Shadow watched with awe as the daggers jerked, dragging to either side of their victim's chest, right before the man died. Standing behind him was a form that both chilled Shadow to the bone, as well as bring him a great sense of relief.

Bella looked different from how he remembered, the mercenary had to admit. No longer was she the predatory woman who had hunted him through this very Court, darkness incarnate and winter's wrath. She wasn't, however, the broken angel he had seen in that short glimpse of vulnerability, when the mask dropped and her pain was bared to the world. Instead, the woman he saw before him now was carved from stone, her beautiful features perfectly emotionless as she stepped back from the corpse-light of the man she had just ended. There was a flicker of darkness, and then she was gone, and Shadow's eyes widened as he stared at the spot she had just stood. He had no time to wonder what had just happened, however, when the woman appeared to step out of the shadows just a few meters away, landing directly between the two men Kirito had been fighting. Like a viper, her hands shot out to either side of her, and the daggers she carried buried themselves within the digital hearts of her targets. Again, her features did not change as the men burst into the tell-tale shards, other than to give a short nod to Kirito, whose own face was twisted into surprise at her appearance. Then she was gone again, melted into the darkness and Kirito's eyes met Shadow's as they both wondered at the occurrence. After a moment, however, the mercenary only offered Kirito a shrug, not familiar enough with the woman to offer any sort of judgement on her behavior, and turned, ready to throw himself back into the fight. Shadow had done his part in rescuing Bella, and his debt was now paid. Whatever came next was none of his business.

XXX

Surprisingly, it wasn't Kirito who found her after the battle, perched atop one of the wider spikes skirting the main space of the Court and watching as the few LC prisoners who had survived were rounded up and dealt with. Instead, Bella was shocked to find Asuna, the lieutenant of the KOB dropping down to sit beside her, a haggard expression adorning her face. For a moment, the two women were silent, not quite looking at each other as they sat side by side. After a moment, however, Asuna broke the silence.

"How do you do it?" Startled by the question, Bella turned her head to face the older girl, tilting it slightly in question.

"Do what, exactly?" The bronze of Asuna's eyes appeared tarnished as she met Bella's own quicksilver ones, and with a slow movement, the swordwoman gestured towards the rest of the Court.

"All of this. You killed today, just like us, and… I heard what that monster did to you and your family. But you're sitting here like it's nothing. How can you go through so much pain, sacrifice so much, and not at least cry? It's like you're made out of stone or something." Bella held Asuna's gaze, her quicksilver eyes flickering in light of the numerous torches the frontline guilds had placed, and for a moment Asuna thought that perhaps she had gone too far in her questioning. Before she could apologize, though, Bella's lips quirked upwards into a smile that held so much sadness in it, Asuna's heart nearly broke at the sight.

"How does one cry, Asuna, when they have no tears to shed?" For a moment, Asuna was confused by her words, but then she looked closer at the girl beside her, really looked. Bella was sitting almost like a gargoyle, hunched over and curled around herself. The pose spoke of unbearable pain, and every feature of her face reflected it. For just a moment, Asuna could have sworn she saw the woman's soul there, cast in shadows and a loss she couldn't even fathom, and yet, her eyes were bone-bry. There wasn't even a hint of wetness there, and as bronze met quicksilver, it hit her. It wasn't that bella wouldn't cry. It was that she _couldn't_.

"You… how long?" She asked past the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat, and again there was that sad smile.

"As long as I can remember. The doctor's say there's nothing wrong with me though. My eyes work fine. They claim it's a psychological thing. My body just doesn't know how to cry." Asuna stared at Bella, unable to believe what she was hearing and wondering just why this girl was telling her this. She had never heard of such a thing before, but it just sounded so personal, and Bella barely knew her. Sure, they had fought together that one time on Floor One, but that was pretty much it for their interactions outside of meetings for other boss battles.

"Does-does Kirito know?" She asked, for surely the black-haired boy who was Bella's constant companion must have some idea of what the Silver Shadow was suffering. God, to not be able to cry… it must be torture, without some sort of release for her grief. Asuna knew from experience that crying was just as therapeutic as anything else, a way to express your emotions, and she knew from just looking at Bella that she felt a lot more deeply than most. She could barely imagine that sort of feeling, and to not be able to express it? No, that would be pure torture.

"He suspects, I think." Bella shook her head as she replied, eyes glimmering slightly to match the sad smile she still wore. She had no doubt her best friend-he was her only friend now, wasn't he?- had probably guessed her little malfunction months ago, if not on the day they lost the rest of the Moonlit Black Cats. He was a lot more observant than most people gave him credit for. "I'm not going to bother him with it, though. He's got enough on his plate as it is." At her words, Asuna's pitying stare suddenly turned into a glare, rage washing through her.

"What on earth are you talking about? He's your friend, Bella! Go talk to him!" Her sudden outburst attracted a few looks from the others, but she waved them away and continued to glare at the silver-haired girl. Bella at least had the grace to look a little chagrined, but still she met Asuna's gaze evenly, iron in her voice as she replied.

"He's got enough problems, and doesn't need to deal with mine. I'm not going to make him carry my burdens for me." A moment later, the sound of flesh meeting flesh rang through the cavern, and Bella stared in surprise at Asuna, a hand on her jaw where the older girl had slapped her.

"What the fuck was that for?" She asked in a low voice, her shock perfectly evident. Asuna had no pity for her, however, and leaned forward until she was directly in the younger's face.

"That was for being an idiot. Kirito's your best friend, and here you are keeping secrets from him. That's not what friends do, Bella."

"I'm not keeping secrets from him!" The silver-eyed girl protested, throwing her hands into the air. "I just don't want to bother him with it, that's all. It's not his burden to bear. I'm the one who sacrifices, not the other way around!" As the last words slipped out, Bella froze, as did Asuna. She hadn't meant to say that.

"What do you mean, you're the one who sacrifices?" Asuna was now leaning even further forward, and for a moment, Bella was hard pressed not to admire her beauty. She managed, though, both by remembering that Kirito had a massive crush on the girl, not that he would ever admit it, and also by being too busy trying not to meet her eyes as she looked away in shame.

"That's… it's what I've always done. People come to me for comfort. I hold them, or I listen to their problems, and I take their burdens as my own. That's how it's always been." Her answer was a whisper, just barely escaping her lips, but Asuna still reeled back in shock, as if _she_ had just been slapped.

"But that's horrible! You help everyone else, and are left alone to deal with your own problems?" Bella nodded slowly, not quite sure where Asuna was going with this. It was what it was, why was the girl so upset over it all.

"I'm what some people call an empath. It's easy for me to feel and understand the emotions around me, and so people are comfortable sharing their secrets with me, especially since I don't spread them around. If someone tells me something, it never leaves my lips unless they say it's okay." Asuna stared at the other girl in amazement. That was just so, so… selfless. Nothing at all like the Silver Shadow most people imagined.

"And you don't tell anyone else your own?" She asked, awe in her voice. Sure, it was extraordinarily sad, but the strength it would take for Bella to have lived like this her entire life… it was mind boggling. In response, the younger girl shook her head, a sliver of amusement slipping into her quicksilver eyes.

"Not at all. I'm perfectly able to work through my own problems." For a few seconds, the two girls sat there looking at each other. Then, without warning, Asuna's hand suddenly shot out, grabbing Bella's as she stood, pulling the younger girl with her.

"Nope, that's not happening." Shocked by the sudden action, Bella tried to pull her hand away, but Asuna's grip was like a vice.

"Wait, what are you doing? What do you mean 'that's not happening'?" Asuna didn't even send her a cursory glance as she continued to struggle, too busy scanning the room for a familiar head of black hair.

"You're not going to sit here and wallow in your own misery anymore. I'm taking you to Kirito, and you _will_ talk to him." As she caught a glimpse of dark messiness, Asuna grinned ferally, and set off, dragging Bella behind her. The younger girl, in a display that most never thought they would see of the infamous Silver Shadow, tried everything she could to get free, from slapping at the hand that held her to dragging her feet like a petulant child, protesting loudly the entire way.

"Let me go, Asuna! I swear, I am so going to make you regret this. You better be sleeping with one eye open from now on, you hear me? Let me gooooooooo!"

XXX

 **Okay, that… that was interesting. I honestly did not expect this chapter to end like it did, but you know what? I don't care. I think I just really needed something to pull me out of the really dark place I had to go to write this chapter. Such is life, I guess.**

 **Anyways, That is the next chapter of The Silver Shadow done, and I guess the first thing I should do is apologize for this taking so long. I just really haven't been in a writing mood lately, and trust me, it's just as annoying on this side of the screen as it is on yours. When I actually tried to do this yesterday, I didn't really make it that far, and the whole thing was horribly shitty. I seriously had to erase like half of what I had, then modify the rest, before continuing. But, here it is, so I guess that's that.**

 **So, I think that should be that, since I don't think there's really anything about this chapter in particular I need to mention, other than don't forget that Shadow is an OC that belongs to Arctic01, and you should probably go give his story some love. Otherwise, I suppose I'll see you all later, and don't forget to Review or PM me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Sayonara!**


End file.
